Endo starts manufacturing Novavax's potential COVID-19 vaccine

(Reuters) - Generic drugmaker Endo said on Friday it was manufacturing Novavax Inc's experimental COVID-19 vaccine, sending its shares up 10% before the trading bell.

The news comes a day after Novavax launched a late-stage trial of the vaccine candidate, NVX‑CoV2373, in the United Kingdom.

Endo said it has signed a deal with Novavax and its unit Par Sterile has begun production of the final drug product, with initial batches to be used in Novavax's phase-3 clinical trial in the United States.

Financials and other terms of the non-exclusive agreement were not disclosed.

NVX‑CoV2373 is currently also being tested in two ongoing mid-stage trials that began in August.

(Reporting by Manas Mishra and Mrinalika Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)