Novavax can assess shot’s efficacy on new COVID-19 variant - Cantor Fitzgerald
Weighing in on the COVID-19 vaccine candidate from Novavax (NVAX +3.4%), Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Charles Duncan says the company has an opportunity to assess the shot's efficacy against the original strain and the newly-found U.K. variant.
In December, the U.K. notified the WHO on the new strain of COVID-19 thought to be highly transmissible than its predecessors.
“We believe the study has a high [probability of success] as it will be a composite efficacy endpoint against the two strains,” Barron’s quoted the analyst saying.
In November, Novavax announced that it completed the enrollment of 15,000 participants in a pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial for the vaccine candidate conducted in the U.K. with results expected in Q1 2021.
In December, the Phase 3 study for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate started in the U.S. and Mexico. Novavax’s vaccine candidate, NVX-CoV2373, is a protein-based jab engineered from the genetic sequence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19.
Noting that the vaccine is not based on messenger RNA technology, but with a more established approach,’ the article says, ‘an effective Covid- 19 vaccine that works differently from the currently authorized vaccines could help relieve supply chain pressures, and get more people vaccinated faster.’
Duncan pegs a 60% probability for the vaccine to reach a 90% efficacy rate in line with those achieved by Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) and Pfizer (NYSE:PFE)/BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX). Such a result will drive shares up 30%, he predicts.
However, Novavax has already surged over 2,500% over the past 12-month period, but Wall Street remains cheery on the stock, with five ratings on the stock outnumbering two neutral or bearish recommendations.
Novavax can assess shot’s efficacy on new COVID-19 variant - Cantor Fitzgerald https://seekingalpha.com/news/...idminus-19-variant-cantor-fitzgerald
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