Why Novavax's Coronavirus Vaccine Might Be First to Market

On July 14, Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) announced that the phase 3 trial for its vaccine candidate would start on July 27. Less than a week later, AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN) announced positive data from its phase 1/2 trial and noted that it had already started a phase 2/3 trial for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate. And on July 27, Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) announced that it, too, had started its phase 3 trial for a coronavirus vaccine.

A month later, on Aug. 24, Novavax started vaccinating volunteers in its phase 2 trial. The company plans to initiate a phase 3 trial in September. Right now, the vaccine specialist seems to be about two months behind its larger competitors. So how can it possibly be first to market?