TOKYO: Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. has started a clinical test in Japan for US biopharmaceutical firm Novavax Inc.’s coronavirus vaccine.

The major Japanese drugmaker plans to round up the test results in July or later, aiming to apply with the health ministry for approval of the vaccine’s administration in Japan. It hopes to start supplying the vaccine in the country by the end of this year.

Receiving related technologies from Novavax, Takeda will develop a capacity to produce over 250 million doses of the vaccine, for 125 million people, a year at a plant in Japan.

Novavax’s vaccine can be stored in regular refrigerators and has been confirmed to be nearly 90 percent effective in preventing infection in a clinical trial in Britain.

Takeda has also begun a clinical trial in Japan for a coronavirus vaccine developed by another US biopharmaceutical firm, Moderna Inc. The first-round inoculations in the test were completed in early February. Takeda plans to put the data from the clinical trial together by around June to apply for approval of the Moderna vaccine’s administration in Japan and start supplying the product in the country.

JIJI Press