Novavax receives $1.6 billion for potential COVID-19 vaccine under Operation Warp Speed

Novavax is set to receive more than a billion dollars in federal funding for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

The company on Tuesday morning announced it's getting $1.6 billion from the Trump administration's Operation Warp Speed, and this money will help it to "complete late-stage clinical development," "establish large-scale manufacturing," and "deliver 100 million doses" of its potential vaccine "as early as late 2020."

The Trump administration's Operation Warp Speed aims to speed up the development of a vaccine for COVID-19, and the $1.6 billion for Novavax is the largest deal the administration has made as part of this program so far, The New York Times reports. Novavax has "never brought a product to market," the Times notes.

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"We are grateful to the U.S. government for its confidence in our technology platform, and are working tirelessly to develop and produce a vaccine for this global health crisis," Novavax CEO Stanley C. Erck said.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar also said in a statement that backing Novavax's vaccine candidate "increases the odds that we will have a safe, effective vaccine as soon as the end of this year." Novavax says it's planning to begin its phase three clinical trial with up to 30,000 subjects in the fall.