Cited by 1,156SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 ResearchCOVID-19 Clinical Research StudiesAnimal Virus Infections Studies

Phase 1–2 Trial of a SARS-CoV-2 Recombinant Spike Protein Nanoparticle Vaccine

Open access
Keech, Cheryl, Albert, Gary, Cho, Iksung, Robertson, Andreana, Reed, Patricia, Neal, Susan, Plested, Joyce S., Zhu, Mingzhu +21 more·2020·New England Journal of Medicine

Published version of a preprint

Abstract

BACKGROUND: NVX-CoV2373 is a recombinant severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (rSARS-CoV-2) nanoparticle vaccine composed of trimeric full-length SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoproteins and Matrix-M1 adjuvant. METHODS: We initiated a randomized, placebo-controlled, phase 1-2 trial to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of the rSARS-CoV-2 vaccine (in 5-μg and 25-μg doses, with or without Matrix-M1 adjuvant, and with observers unaware of trial-group assignments) in 131 healthy adults. In phase 1, vaccination comprised two intramuscular injections, 21 days apart. The primary outcomes were reactogenicity; laboratory values (serum chemistry and hematology), according to Food and Drug Administration toxicity scoring, to assess safety; and IgG anti-spike protein response (in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay [ELISA] units). Secondary outcomes included unsolicited adverse events, wild-type virus neutralization (microneutralization assay), and T-cell responses (cytokine staining). IgG and microneutralization assay results were compared with 32 (IgG) and 29 (neutralization) convalescent serum samples from patients with Covid-19, most of whom were symptomatic. We performed a primary analysis at day 35. RESULTS: After randomization, 83 participants were assigned to receive the vaccine with adjuvant and 25 without adjuvant, and 23 participants were assigned to receive placebo. No serious adverse events were noted. Reactogenicity was absent or mild in the majority of participants, more common with adjuvant, and of short duration (mean, ≤2 days). One participant had mild fever that lasted 1 day. Unsolicited adverse events were mild in most participants; there were no severe adverse events. The addition of adjuvant resulted in enhanced immune responses, was antigen dose-sparing, and induced a T helper 1 (Th1) response. The two-dose 5-μg adjuvanted regimen induced geometric mean anti-spike IgG (63,160 ELISA units) and neutralization (3906) responses that exceeded geometric mean responses in convalescent serum from mostly symptomatic Covid-19 patients (8344 and 983, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: At 35 days, NVX-CoV2373 appeared to be safe, and it elicited immune responses that exceeded levels in Covid-19 convalescent serum. The Matrix-M1 adjuvant induced CD4+ T-cell responses that were biased toward a Th1 phenotype. (Funded by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT04368988).

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1056/nejmoa2026920

Cites

19 of 19 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Robust CD4+ and CD8+ T cell memory is induced after COVID-19, and multiple COVID-19 vaccines elicit CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses.

    “Robust CD4+ and CD8+ T cell memory is induced after COVID-19,22,39, 40, 41 and multiple COVID-19 vaccines elicit CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses.26,42, 43, 44, 45”
  • The NVX-CoV2373 vaccine had an acceptable safety and reactogenicity profile.

    “Preliminary safety data continued to indicate an acceptable safety and reactogenicity profile.11”
  • Multiple candidate vaccines had similar immunogenicity profiles to the COVID-19 RNA vaccines in humans, with equivalent or better neutralizing antibody titers or CD4+ T cell responses.

    “Multiple candidate vaccines had similar immunogenicity profiles to the COVID-19 RNA vaccines in humans, with equivalent or better neutralizing antibody titers or CD4+ T cell responses”

    From Adaptive immunity to SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 (2021) · cites this paper as Keech et al., 2020

  • Early clinical studies showed that NVX-CoV2373 was safe and produced a robust immune response in healthy adults.

    “Early clinical data from studies of the NVX-CoV2373 vaccine (Novavax), which consists of 5 μg of a recombinant nanoparticle spike protein plus 50 μg of Matrix-M adjuvant, have shown that a two-dose regimen administered 21 days apart was safe and associated with a robust immune response in healthy adult participants.10,11”

    From Safety and Efficacy of NVX-CoV2373 Covid-19 Vaccine (2021) · cites this paper as [10]

  • Only 1 out of the 82 participants who received NVX-CoV2373 in a prime-boost schedule developed a mild fever.

    “only 1 out of the 82 participants who received the vaccine in a prime-boost schedule, developed a mild fever [84].”

    From The dawn of mRNA vaccines: the COVID-19 case (2021) · cites this paper as [84]

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 4

  1. [9]Tian J-H, Patel N, Haupt R, et al. SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein vaccine candidate NVX-CoV2373 elicits immunogenicity in baboons and protection in mice. June 30, 2020 (https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.06.29.178509v1). preprint. PMC7809486 33446655 · DOI
  2. [10]Mandolesi M, Sheward DJ, Hanke L, et al. SARS-CoV-2 protein subunit vaccination elicits potent neutralizing antibody responses. July 31, 2020 (https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.31.228486v1). preprint. PMC8020888 33842900 · DOI
  3. [28]Shinde V, Cai R, Plested J, et al. Induction of cross-reactive hemagglutination inhibiting antibody and polyfunctional CD4+ T-cell responses by a recombinant Matrix-M-adjuvanted hemagglutinin nanoparticle influenza vaccine. May 18, 2020 (https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.11.20098574v1). preprint. PMC8664440 33146720 · DOI
  4. [30]Shinde V, Cho I, Plested JS, et al. Comparison of the safety and immunogenicity of a novel Matrix-M-adjuvanted nanoparticle influenza vaccine with a quadrivalent seasonal influenza vaccine in older adults: a randomized controlled trial. May 18, 2020 (https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.08.07.20170514v1). preprint. 34563277 · DOI

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Keech, C., Albert, G., Cho, I., Robertson, A., Reed, P., Neal, S., Plested, J. S., Zhu, M., Cloney-Clark, S., Zhou, H., Smith, G., Patel, N., Frieman, M. B., Haupt, R. E., Logue, J., McGrath, M., Weston, S., Piedra, P. A., Desai, C., Callahan, K., Lewis, M., Price-Abbott, P., Formica, N., Shinde, V., Fries, L., Lickliter, J. D., Griffin, P., Wilkinson, B., & Glenn, G. M.
Affiliations
University of Maryland, Baltimore (US)
Corresponding author
Keech, Cheryl
Venue
New England Journal of Medicine
Published
2020-12-10
Volume
383
Issue
24
Pages
2320-2332
ISSN
  • 0028-4793 (ISSN-L)
  • 1533-4406
OpenAlex
W3081892744
Cited by
1,156
References
19
Citations by year
2026: 22 · 2025: 64 · 2024: 80 · 2023: 155 · 2022: 275 · 2021: 481 · 2020: 77
FWCI
32.41
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • New England Journal of Medicine (publishedVersion)
  • medRxiv (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT04368988)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › COVID-19 Clinical Research Studies
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Animal Science and Zoology › Animal Virus Infections Studies
Keywords
nanoparticle vaccine, SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, NVX-CoV2373, COVID-19 vaccines, vaccine safety, immunogenicity, anti-spike IgG, neutralizing antibodies, T cell response, Th1 response, reactogenicity, dose sparing, convalescent serum
MeSH terms
Immunogenicity, Vaccine, COVID-19, COVID-19 Vaccines, Adjuvants, Immunologic, Adolescent, Adult, Antibodies, Viral, Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay, Female, Humans, Immunoglobulin G, Immunization Schedule, Male, Middle Aged, Saponins, Vaccines, Synthetic, Th1 Cells, Nanoparticles, Young Adult, Antibodies, Neutralizing, Pandemics, Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review