Vaccine Consortium Covaxx Inks Supply Deals Worth $2.8 billion

United Biomedical’s nonprofit vaccine subsidiary, Covaxx, said it has secured supply deals worth $2.8 billion for more than 140 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, UB-612, in “multiple countries,” including Brazil, Ecuador and Peru.

Not among the current frontrunners in the race for an approved vaccine, the New York-based consortium plans to start phase 2/3 clinical trials of UB-612 by the end of this year or early next year in Latin America, Asia and the U.S., and says it will produce 1 billion doses of the vaccine by the end of 2021.

Covaxx offered no specifics on how it plans to scale up production so rapidly, but it has teamed up with Danish shipping giant Maersk to handle global distribution and is betting big that its shipping requirements will help it stand out. The vaccine can be stored at normal refrigeration temperatures of 36 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit (2 to 8 degrees Celsius)

The consortium has yet to release any results from ongoing clinical trials, but co-founder Peter Diamandis said data “will be available during the next few months.” Diamandis also pledged the vaccine will be “affordable and accessible for all earthlings.”

A synthetic peptide-based vaccine, UB-612 is designed to activate B- and T-cells in the immune system and to induce neutralizing antibodies against the coronavirus. Patients will “likely require boosters” so a vaccination is expected to require at least a two-dose regimen.

Covaxx is not affiliated with the World Health Organization-backed COVAX project, which aims to deliver 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to lower-income nations by the end of 2021. — Jason Scott