Thread by @doctorvasan

Scientific Basis for #Novavax #Covovax NVX-CoV2373 Superior Efficacy against broad range of Variants
Unlike the mRNA and adenovirus vaccines which only present a portion of the spike protein RBD (Receptor Binding Domain) to the immune system, Nuvaxovid presents the entire 1/9

“prefusion stabilized” Recombinant spike protein in a virus-like particle. The remainder of the spike protein apart from RBD’s in Nuvaxovid is also a site of neutralizing epitopes and that region is not heavily mutated in omicron.

https://twitter.com/wanderer_jasnah/status/1473409777300557834?s=20

NVAX (academic 2/9

collaborators actually) used a wild-type virus assay which means they used actual prototype and omicron viruses in the assays. They tested against the real deal. Moderna OTOH measured neutralization in a more common pseudo-virus assay – a non-coronavirus engineered to have 3/9

the prototype or omicron spike protein. These are not as predictive as wild-type assays, but easier/cheaper/faster to do.
The neutralization titer of Nuvaxovid for omicron relative to prototype after 2 doses was lower by less than 4-fold, but still relatively good. Pfizer’s 3/9

was down greater than 25-fold. This is why press reports focusing on how many fold increase a booster provided cannot be a valid comparison among the vxs since each vx is starting from a different level. But the really exciting data is in slide 12. 4/9

https://twitter.com/Novavax/status/1473774183339413507?s=20

NVAX showed that they could get the same neutralization titer for omicron after a boost that they got for prototype after 2 doses. In other words, the high level of performance against the original virus was restored for omicron by one boost. The other vxs haven’t shown this 5/9

(that I could find). These data are the results of a very stringent neutralization assay that is likely to correlate with real world performance.
The significance of this data is underscored by the hastily organized conference call on Wednesday. If I had to guess, once the 6/9

data came in they wanted to get it out ASAP as the information being material would have certainly leaked out. Security laws and looming shareholder class action lawsuits pressured them to keep it to a Sergeant Joe Friday “just the facts” presentation without connecting the 7/9

dots. It was also revealed in the CC that Novavax is developing a Omicron specific tweak as in "Given the evolving pandemic, an #Omicron-specific vaccine could be necessary. GMP manufacturing is expected to begin soon and we plan to initiate #clinicaltrials in the first 8/9

quarter of 2022".
NOTWITHSTANDING the fact that other competitors have also launched similar quest, Novavax not only seems to be ahead but it enjoys a crucial benefit in the fact that making a Bi/MultiValent formulation is easiest on the platform. 9/9
Merry Christmas !

Oh BTW, Who would want a boost every 3-4 months !? Novavax adjuvant Matrix M to the rescue. The protection can last a lot longer. biorxiv.org/content/10.110…