The Gaithersburg, Md., company said the pivotal Phase 3 trial in the U.K. would track whether adults receiving its two-dose vaccine experience a lower rate of symptomatic Covid-19 compared with study subjects who get a placebo. Novavax still plans to test its vaccine in a Phase 3 trial in the U.S. with up to 30,000 subjects, which could start in October, said Gregory Glenn, Novavax’s president of research and development. “The U.K. trial is a different shot on goal,” Dr. Glenn said in an interview. “They look like they are going to have a big surge in disease.”The U.K. trial start is an example of the shifting bets that vaccine makers must make to test their experimental shots. Companies organizing trials must guess where the coronavirus will be spreading, because proving a vaccine works safely depends on trial subjects becoming exposed to the virus.

Source: Wall Street Journal September 24, 2020 20:48 UTC