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Novavax Inc. believes it has created a vaccine against the Middle East Respiratory Virus, or MERS, which has been causing pandemic concerns.

The Gaithersburg biotech, working with University of Maryland School of Medicine researchers, said their vaccine candidate blocked MERS infections in laboratory studies. It is based on a platform for a vaccine candidate that is said to protect against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS; both MERS and SARS are coronaviruses.