Novavax developing joint COVID/flu vaccine

Vaccine manufacturer Novavax has announced it is developing a joint COVID-19/flu shot that is currently in the trial stage.

Novavax already manufactures flu shots and a COVID-19 vaccine, which has not yet been approved for public use in Australia.

However, the government has placed an order for 51 million doses.

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The company said in a release both NVX-CoV2373 (its COVID-19 vaccine) and NanoFlu (its seasonal flu shot) had demonstrated "strong results" as standalone vaccines.

"This study is the first-of-its-kind to evaluate the vaccine's potential to induce a robust immune response, augmented by our Matrix-M adjuvant, against two life-threatening diseases simultaneously," Novavax president of research and development Dr Gregory M Glenn said.

"The combination of these two vaccines, which have individually delivered outstanding results with favourable safety and tolerability profiles, may lead to greater efficiencies for the healthcare system and achieve high levels of protection against COVID-19 and influenza with a single regimen."

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The trial will evaluate the safety, tolerability and immune response to NanoFlu formulated together with NVX-CoV2373 and Matrix-M adjuvant in 640 healthy adults aged between 50 and 70.

Participants will have been either previously infected with COVID-19, or vaccinated against it at least eight weeks prior to enrolling in the trial.

All participants will be randomly assigned to cohorts to evaluate multiple formulations and will be dosed on day zero and again at day 56.

The trial will be conducted in Australia at up to 12 study sites, with results expected during the first half of 2022.