Novavax Inc. ( NVAX ) shares surged after the company announced its plans to deliver a regulator-recommended vaccine against a strain of Covid-19 by September.

What Happened: The Maryland-based biotechnology company’s shares were trading higher by 21.60% to $25.50 in premarket trading on Thursday, at the time of writing, following the announcement.

Novavax ( NVAX ) revealed that it is on track to deliver a vaccine against a Covid-19 strain recommended by a U.S. regulatory advisory group by September, MarketWatch reported. This announcement follows the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee’s recommendation on Wednesday to update COVID-19 vaccines to a monovalent JN.1-lineage composition for the upcoming season.

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The company also mentioned that it anticipates commercial delivery of the protein-based vaccine in the U.S. in September, pending authorization. The advisory group suggested that the vaccines should target the original JN.1 variant instead of the current dominant KP.2 strain.

Why It Matters: Novavax’s stock has been on a significant rise over the past month, gaining nearly 40% in the last five days alone. This surge is largely attributed to the company’s COVID-19 vaccine developments.

Experts have predicted a small rise in COVID-19 cases this summer due to a newly dominant strain, KP.2, which represents 28% of COVID-19 infections in the U.S. This has led to a climb in the shares of vaccine producers, including Novavax ( NVAX ).

The news comes amid ongoing concerns about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines. For example, AstraZeneca has admitted that its vaccine can, in rare instances, cause Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS), a condition characterized by blood clots and low blood platelet counts.

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This story was generated using Benzinga Neuro and edited by Pooja Rajkumari