Sanofi inks $1.2bn deal for Novavax’s Covid-19 vaccine

Sanofi has entered into a significant $1.2 billion licensing agreement with Novavax to co-commercialize its stand-alone adjuvanted Covid-19 vaccine. Under this arrangement, starting in 2025, Sanofi and Novavax will work together to market the vaccine globally, with the exception of countries like India, South Korea, and Japan, where Novavax already has partnerships.

This "co-exclusive" agreement also includes Sanofi's commitment to support some research and development (R&D), regulatory, and commercial expenses associated with the vaccine. The partnership comes at a crucial time for Novavax, which has been struggling in the post-pandemic market. The American company had previously issued a "going concern" warning in 2023, indicating uncertainty about its ability to continue operations due to concerns about future sales and funding from the U.S. government.

However, this new deal with Sanofi has allowed Novavax to lift that warning. According to Novavax's first-quarter 2024 financial results, the company noted that the warning had been removed. The company reported revenues of $94 million for the first quarter, an increase from $81 million during the same period in 2023.

Although Novavax's Nuvaxovid (NVX-CoV2373) vaccine has not yet been approved or licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), it has received emergency use authorization (EUA) for individuals aged 12 and above. This EUA was updated late last year to include the 2023-2024 version of the vaccine. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has given full marketing authorization to the vaccine, and it has been approved in over 40 markets worldwide.

The agreement also grants Sanofi exclusive rights to use the vaccine in combination with its flu vaccines and non-exclusive rights to use it with non-flu vaccines and Novavax's Matrix-M adjuvant in vaccine products. The Matrix-M adjuvant is derived from naturally occurring compounds found in the bark of the soap bark tree, commonly found in Chile. This combination has been shown to enhance the immune response to vaccines.

Jean-Francois Toussaint, Sanofi’s global head of vaccines R&D, highlighted the importance of this partnership by stating, "With flu and Covid-19 hospital admission rates now closely mirroring each other, we have an opportunity to develop non-mRNA flu-Covid-19 combination vaccines offering patients both enhanced convenience and protection against two serious respiratory viruses."

John Jacobs, CEO of Novavax, expressed optimism about the deal, saying, “Novavax is now in a stronger position to refocus our efforts on leveraging our technology platform and novel adjuvant in research and development and pipeline expansion to help advance our mission of developing life-saving vaccines to fight infectious diseases.”

Analysts from GlobalData have pointed out that Sanofi was the tenth largest pharmaceutical company by R&D spending in 2023, with an expenditure totaling $7.18 billion, which represents 15.6% of its revenue.