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Andrey Rudakov / Bloomberg
Novavax said it has a deal with SK Bioscience to produce the antigen component of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate during the pandemic period. The stock jumped more than 9% Thursday morning.
Novavax (ticker: NVAX) said its development and supply agreement with the South Korean company will help it deliver its vaccine, NVX-CoV2373, to global markets, including South Korea. SK is set to begin production this month.
“We are proud to partner with SK bioscience to fulfill our commitment to guarantee NVX-CoV2373’s worldwide offering in line with our partnership with CEPI,” said Stanley C. Erck, CEO of Novavax in a news release. The acronym refers to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness, a non-governmental agency that has provided millions of dollars in funding to help test and develop Novavax’s experimental vaccine.
The companies said they also signed a letter of intent with the South Korean government to “work towards a broad and equivalent access to NVX-CoV2373 for the global market rather than making the vaccine available in South Korea.”
“SK Bioscience shares our sense of urgency to ensure broad and reasonable access for our COVID-19 vaccine candidate worldwide,” added Erck.
Novavax stock market fell 16.8% on Wednesday, thanks to apparent progress for the Russian vaccine candidate and an offer by the US government with Moderna (MRNA), part of the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed plan to promote Covid-19 faxes to be traced.
JP Morgan analyst Eric Joseph wrote in a note on Wednesday that he did not see the Moderna award as fundamentally negative news for Novavax. “After all, the recent OWS distinction is more likely a reflection of process and timing, and ensures that appropriate resources are matched with manufacturing needs, as the goovets place bets on a portfolio of fax options,” Joseph wrote.
He points to six recipients of Operation Warp Speed award vaccination to date, adding up to $ 10.2 billion in funding. That includes the $ 1.6 billion that Novavax announced in July.
Joseph claimed that NVX-CoV2373 still has a likely best-in-class immunogenicity profile, despite recent encouraging news from Pfizer (PFE) and BioNTech‘s
(BNTX) candidate, BNT162b1.
Novavax stock was up 9.3%, at $ 136.03, in recent trading.
Write to Connor Smith at [email protected]
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