US biotech Novavax is expecting results from an Australian study of a coronavirus and influenza vaccine at the start of next year, paving the way for the development of a combined jab to fight both diseases.

The Australian government is still waiting on 51 million doses of Novavax’s original coronavirus vaccine, with the product yet to receive approval for use in Australia.

Outgoing health minister Greg Hunt said last Friday he was hopeful Novavax would receive the first international approvals for its COVID vaccine this week and that there might be some “positive news” about an Australian approval by Christmas.

In an event at a US healthcare conference at the end of last week, Novavax’s chief medical officer Filip Dubovsky and chief commercial officer John Trizzino outlined the company’s current areas of focus, including a combined influenza and COVID vaccine.

Mr Dubovsky told the event that an Australian study has been completed to work out the final antigen doses to be included in the combined product, and results will soon be released to allow the company to conduct further studies.

“That study is going to read out next year, early next year. And that’s going to be used to select the dose level to push into further development,” he said.

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The research comes as biotech heavyweights, like Moderna co-founder Professor Robert Langer, predict that COVID variants will be present for years to come and may need to be managed annually, like influenza.

Novavax has been positioning itself as a possible provider of booster shots for those who have already received two doses of a different coronavirus vaccine, and the business is looking to collate more data on the safety of its vaccine for those who have had the other brands.