U.S. pumps $1.6 billion into Novavax’s COVID vaccine development

Novavax Inc., one of the front-runners in the race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, will receive $1.6 billion from the U.S. government, the biggest contribution yet from the Operation Warp Speed program. The funds will allow the company to conduct advanced human studies and establish manufacturing to deliver 100 million doses as soon as late 2020, Gaithersburg, Md.-based Novavax said in a statement. Shares of Novavax rose as much as 41%, the highest since September 2016, in Tuesday trading. Novavax is among companies striving to develop an inoculation against the novel coronavirus that’s spreading quickly in countries including the U.S., India and Mexico. President Donald Trump’s Warp Speed...