Novavax is developing a vaccine aimed at the new COVID-19 variant by Reuters

Manojna by Maddipatla and Mrinalika Roy

(Reuters) – Novavax Inc said on Friday it had begun work on a version of its COVID-19 vaccine to target the detected variant in South Africa and would be ready for testing and manufacturing in the coming weeks.

The company’s COVID-19 shot contains a true version of the virus’s spinal protein that can’t cause disease but can affect the immune system. The vaccine developer said he began developing a spike protein based on the known genetic sequence of the variant, B.1.1.529.

“Initial work will take a few weeks,” a company spokesman said. Shares of the company closed nearly 9% on Friday.

Novavax (NASDAQ:) The vaccine received its first emergency use approval this month in Indonesia and then in the Philippines.

The company said it is on track to apply for U.S. approval by the end of the year. He has also applied for admissions to the European Medicines Agency as well as Canada.

Other vaccine developers, including Germany’s BioNTech SE (NASDAQ 🙂 and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE :), said the World Health Organization is testing the effectiveness of shots against a new variant called Omicron.

Inovio Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ 🙂 Inc. said it began testing its vaccine candidate, INO-4800, to evaluate its effectiveness against the new variant. The company expects the tests to last about two weeks.

Inovio also said he was simultaneously designing a new vaccine candidate specifically targeted at Omicron.

“The best case scenario, the INO-4800 … will be completely resistant to omicron, but if not, we will have a newly designed vaccine ready, if needed,” said Kate Broderick, Inovio’s vice president of R&D. division.

Earlier this month, Inovio resumed his final vaccine trial after a 14-month clinical trial in the United States.