The latest manufacturer to offer an alternative to mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 in Canada hopes to be able to meet the 2024 deadline set by the government for domestic production of doses.
Maryland-based Novavax held a news conference Wednesday to tout the safety and effectiveness of its new vaccine, which targets newer strains of COVID-19.
The company also stressed the importance of having an option for people who cannot or do not want to accept an mRNA injection.
The new composition is awaiting approval from Health Canada.
The federal government has promised to manufacture the Novavax vaccine in Canada, at the National Research Council’s biologics manufacturing center in Montreal. To date, the center has not produced a single dose for use in patients.
The company’s Canadian director, Andrew Boston, said that trial batches are currently in production at this center.
“This will then lead to what we hope will be full bulk antigen manufacturing in 2024,” Boston said during Wednesday’s press conference, which took place via videoconference.
He did not wish to answer further questions about vaccine production.
This summer, Ottawa amended its purchasing agreement with Novavax. The government can now terminate the deal if bulk production does not begin before the end of 2024, filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission show.
The Biologics Manufacturing Center and Novavax anticipate that “large-scale production of bulk antigens at CPPB will begin in 2024,” said Isabelle Caron, executive director of the nonprofit organization that now oversees the center.
The federal government invested $126 million in the design, construction and commissioning of the Montreal site, which was completed in July 2021.
Ensuring equitable access
As of September 10, just over 35,000 doses of the original Novavax vaccine had been administered in Canada, compared to 96 million doses of mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna.
Novavax is one of four manufacturers whose COVID-19 vaccines are authorized in Canada.
Vaccines from Johnson & Johnson and Medicago are no longer authorized. And the AstraZeneca vaccine is no longer available in Canada.
“Canadians may not be aware that other vaccine options are no longer available in Canada, with the exception of mRNA vaccines,” says Bruce Seet, director of medical affairs at Novavax Canada.
“Therefore, Novavax’s protein-based vaccine represents the only non-mRNA vaccine option, and I think people need to be aware of that. »
The use of mRNA vaccine technology has rapidly accelerated during the pandemic. Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine was the first mRNA vaccine to receive regulatory approval.
As provinces begin their vaccine booster campaigns this month, Seet says the government should ensure access to the mRNA alternative is equitable.
It remains unclear how many doses of the updated vaccine Health Canada plans to order if it approves the vaccine for use in Canada.
Given the decline in demand for COVID-19 vaccines in general, Canada recently agreed to pay the company $350 million to cancel its previous order.