Serum could begin COVOVAX trial on children from July 2021.

Serum Institute of India (SII) is likely to begin clinical trials of Novavax’s Covid-19 vaccine candidate on children in July, sources at the Pune-based vaccine manufacturer said.

The recombinant nanoparticle protein-based vaccine — NVX-CoV2373 — developed by the American biotechnology firm has been branded Covovax in India. SII, which is partnering with Novavax, expects to launch Covovax in India by September.

This week, Novavax announced excellent results from its PREVENT-19 phase 3 trials at 119 sites in the United States and Mexico, reporting an overall efficacy of 90.4 per cent — on a par with Pfizer-BioNTech’s and Moderna’s mRNA shots, and better than both Oxford-AstraZeneca (Covishield) and Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose vaccine.