Novavax soars 146% on $1.2 billion Sanofi vaccine licensing deal – The Economic Times

Novavax Inc. shares surged after the company signed a $1.2 billion licensing agreement with Sanofi that includes commercializing a combined Covid-19 and flu shot.

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Novavax shares rose as much as 146% in early trading in New York and the stock is on track for its biggest one-day increase on record. The stock was trading at $10.30 a share on Friday, although this is still well off a peak of about $320 in early 2021.

The pact links two big players in the vaccine world that both missed out on the rush to develop and commercialize Covid shots quickly during the pandemic. Amid various setbacks, Sanofi and Novavax ceded tens of billions of dollars in sales to nimbler messenger-RNA developers including the Pfizer-BioNTech alliance and Moderna Inc.

Sanofi will also have a non-exclusive license to use Novavaxs Matrix-M adjuvant in other vaccine products. Novavax will still have the right to develop its own combined Covid-flu vaccine at its own cost.

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Moderna and Pfizer are both assessing mRNA-based combination vaccines, and though Sanofi believes its non mRNA-based flu product wont be improved, the potential to offer a non-mRNA-based combination as an alternative looks a sensible move, she said.

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Novavax soars 146% on $1.2 billion Sanofi vaccine licensing deal - The Economic Times