COVID shots should target variants with JN.1 lineage in 2024-25 campaign, US FDA advisers say

(Reuters) -Advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday unanimously voted in favor of recommending that COVID-19 vaccines for 2024-25 should target a strain within the lineage of the JN.1 variant that have been dominant this year.

All 16 voting members of the panel recommended that FDA ask companies target the JN.1 variant or a strain within its lineage when the companies update their vaccines for fall campaign.

Shares of Novavax (NASDAQ:) were up 20% in afternoon trade on Wednesday, while Moderna (NASDAQ:) was up 4%. Pfizer (NYSE:) was marginally down.

COVID-19 vaccine makers earlier in the day said data from animals studies showed their 2024-25 shots targeting the JN.1 variant that was dominant earlier this year could neutralize newer subvariants such as KP.2 much better than the older shots.

Pfizer and partner BioNTech (NASDAQ:) will be ready to supply their updated vaccines immediately upon approval, while Moderna and Novavax forecast a timeline for August, the companies said.

Pfizer and Moderna said they are ready to supply vaccines that target either JN.1 or KP.2. Novavax has said it would be able to offer a vaccine in the United States this autumn if regulators accept the shot it started manufacturing to target the JN.1 variant.

Novavax makes a more traditional protein-based shot that takes longer to manufacture, while vaccines based on messenger RNA (mRNA) from Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech can be developed more quickly.

Pfizer had earlier said it could make the shots in 100 days, while Novavax on Wednesday said its vaccine generally requires six months.