CCP- Virus Vaccine Progress

CHICAGO—The U.S. government has awarded Novavax Inc $1.6 billion to cover testing, commercialization, and manufacturing of a potential coronavirus vaccine in the United States, with the aim of delivering 100 million doses by January 2021.

Novavax shares jumped 35 percent in premarket trade.

The award is the biggest yet from “Operation Warp Speed,” the White House program aimed at accelerating access to vaccines and treatments to fight the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

“What this Warp Speed award does is it pays for production of 100 million doses, which would be delivered starting in the fourth quarter of this year, and may be completed by January or February of next year,” Novavax Chief Executive Stanley Erck told Reuters.

It will also cover the cost of running a large Phase III trial—the final stage of human testing, which could begin as early as October.

The announcement follows a $456 million investment in Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine candidate in March, a $486 million award to Moderna Inc in April, and up to $1.2 billion in support in May for AstraZeneca’s vaccine being developed with Oxford University. The U.S. government also awarded Emergent Biosolutions $628 million to expand domestic manufacturing capacity for a potential coronavirus vaccine and drugs to treat COVID-19.

A safe and effective vaccine is seen as critical to ending a pandemic that has claimed over half a million lives globally, about a quarter of them in the United States.