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Novavax rose the next day after releasing data on the first human test of its Kovid-19 vaccine, with the stock soaring and analysts say the data looks exceptionally promising.
Novavax (ticker: NVAX) shares crashed briefly Tuesday night amid confusion over safety data from the test. But in Wednesday’s daylight, Novax shares rose 10% to $ 172.17 per share.
In a note on Wednesday morning, Canter Fitzgerald analyst Charles Duncan said that Novavax’s Kovid-19 vaccine is “more-viable, dare we say” is class-leading. JPMorgan analyst Eric Joseph said it is not far away. To conclude that “vaccine antagonist immune activity” looks best-in-class. ”
Joseph upgraded Novatrix from Novatral to overweight, and set a price target of $ 275.
However, both analysts warn that comparing neutralizing antibody activity between different data sets originating from early Kovid-19 vaccine trials is challenging.
In its statement on Tuesday, Novavax announced results from Phase 1 of the Phase 1/2 trial of its Kovid-19 vaccine — a randomized, controlled trial of 131 healthy adults. The study found that all subjects receiving the vaccine neutralized antibody responses after the second dose. Reactions were generally mild. There were no serious adverse events.
In a note Tuesday night, Evercore ISI analyst Josh Shimer wrote that compared to completely neutral antibody levels between the Kovid-19 vaccine tests that have been read so far, “NVAX is a clear winner.” But it is unclear whether the comparison is reasonable, or even that higher levels of neutralizing antibodies would necessarily correlate to higher degrees of protection from the virus.
Novavax’s vaccine is based on far more proven technology than the RNA-based vaccines under development from modern RRA (mRNA) and Pfizer (PFE). No messenger RNA vaccines have ever been approved by regulators; The Food and Drug Administration has approved the approved subunit vaccine, as a Novax is developing.
Schimmer wrote, “Given the ‘tried and true’ nature of the submarine submarine vaccines, we suspect the event will become a preferred option for many.”
Novax has received $ 1.6 billion from the US government to develop its vaccine. It plans to run a Phase 3 trial of the vaccine later this year.
Write Josh Nathan-Kazis at [email protected]
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