WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Shares of Novavax, Inc. (NVAX) jumped over 10% on Friday morning after the biotechnology company announced that it received funding the U.S. Department of Defense to make its NVX-CoV2373 COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
NVAX is currently trading at $49.56, up $4.90 or 10.97%, on the Nasdaq.
The DoD has agreed to fund up to $60 million to support Novavax in its production of several components of the vaccine that will be manufactured in the U.S. The agreement includes a 2020 delivery of 10 million doses of NVX-CoV2373 for DoD that could be used in Phase 2/3 clinical trials or under an Emergency Use Authorization if approved by the U.S. FDA.
CEO Stanley Erck said, 'Importantly, this award will allow Novavax to significantly expand its U.S. production capacity of NVX-CoV2373, a critical step in our ability to provide vaccine support to the COVID-19 pandemic.'
As part of the contract, Novavax will work with a U.S.-based biologics contract development manufacturing organization to manufacture the antigen component of NVX-CoV2373 for at least 10 million doses of vaccine.
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