Novavax (NVAX) reported a large fourth quarter sales decline Thursday — and said it no longer wants to be known simply as a vaccine maker.
The COVID-19 vaccine company, based in Maryland, said during its earnings report that it would move from developing products to instead partnering with larger pharmaceutical companies and licensing its drug technology.
Novavax reported $88 million in revenues in the fourth quarter, compared to $291 million the year prior, and $682 million for the full year 2024, compared to $984 million the previous year. The sharp decline reflected slumping sales of its COVID-19 vaccine — similar to other vaccine makers. Sales figures also reflected revenues of $200 million from the sale of a manufacturing facility in the Czech Republic to Novo Nordisk (NVO).
Wall Street expected $84 million in revenues for the quarter and a loss per share of $0.75 for the quarter. The company reported a loss of $0.51 for the quarter, beating estimates, and loss of $1.23 per share for the full year, also beating estimates. The company missed on annual revenue estimates, where Wall Street expected $684 million.
Novavax's stock was flat in premarket trading Thursday.
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The company's Matrix-M adjuvant, which helped to improve the efficacy of the company's COVID-19 vaccine, Nuvaxovid, has helped seal two partnerships in the past year, and other companies are showing interest, CEO John Jacobs told chof360 Finance.
The biotech's shift to a drug platform company could reduce its exposure to headwinds from the Trump administration — namely, negative impacts to vaccine makers from newly confirmed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Just this week, the FDA's committee meeting to select which flu strain to target each year was canceled. And the federal government is rethinking its funding of a bird flu vaccine candidate by Moderna (MRNA). On the day of RFK's appointment, all vaccine makers, including Novavax, saw their stocks slide.
But Jacobs said he is still getting support from the federal government to develop the company's pandemic flu vaccine candidate, which was halted for a month by the FDA late last year.
Novavax has had to face the sudden rise and fall of its fortunes tied to the pandemic, just like other COVID vaccine companies like Moderna and Pfizer (PFE).
Novavax's struggle was exacerbated by its inability to gain market share away from the other COVID players after it stumbled multiple times through the trial and manufacturing process before getting FDA authorization. To date, the company has not yet received full authorization for the vaccine, but the FDA is expected to make a decision by April of this year.
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If it does, Novavax will receive a $175 million payment from Sanofi (SNY), which will handle commercializing the process. Jacobs previously said that Sanofi is the best-suited partner since it is familiar with the respiratory virus season through its top-selling flu vaccine. Novavax also reported a recent $50 million milestone payment from Sanofi through an agreement for a pediatric clinical trial of its vaccine.
"We always had a focused strategy to partner and monetize our technology, and that Sanofi deal was the seminal deal for us to really show the value of our tech, and validate that, and then refocus ourselves and get away from trying to sell one product ... against the behemoths," Jacobs said.
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That then refocuses the company's resources to the tech platform and licensing. Between winding down COVID manufacturing and the hand-off to Sanofi — as well as other cost cuts — Novavax's new target total spend rate is $250 million per year by 2027, or an 80% reduction from 2023 annual expenses, Jacobs said.
As for how Novavax plans to battle headwinds from the Trump administration, Jacobs sees the company well-placed with the strategy shift and its global COVID manufacturing partner, the Serum Institute of India.
"This administration is very close with the government of India ... and India is also an engine of innovation on vaccines and medicines, and we see this as an opportunity," Jacobs said.
Additionally, with the negative outlook for vaccines from the new administration, Jacobs said the company is now focused beyond respiratory viruses. "We're looking at new versions and formulations of Matrix M that could facilitate approaches, even therapeutically, to oncology. It's still a work in progress," he said.
Anjalee Khemlani is the senior health reporter at chof360 Finance, covering all things pharma, insurance, care services, digital health, PBMs, and health policy and politics. That includes GLP-1s, of course. Follow Anjalee on social media platforms X, LinkedIn, and Bluesky @AnjKhem.
