By Christy Santhosh
(Reuters) -Novavax on Thursday posted a narrower fourth-quarter loss and said it expects its licensing deal with French drugmaker Sanofi for COVID-19 vaccines to generate royalties, and reduce selling and administrative expenses.
Shares of Novavax, which makes protein-based vaccines as opposed to rivals Moderna and Pfizer’s messenger RNA-based shots, jumped 10% in early trading.
Novavax in May had signed a deal worth at least $1.2 billion with Sanofi to hand over the rights to sell its vaccines in several markets, including the United States and Europe, in exchange for a stake in the company.
The Maryland-based company said it would continue to sell the shots in the U.S. during the first half of this year, as it transitions the market to Sanofi beginning with the 2025-2026 vaccination season.
It is banking on revenue from its Sanofi deal and vaccines in development, including an experimental COVID-flu combination shot and for bird flu, which is in pre-clinical stage.
Novavax said it was eligible to receive royalties in high teens to low twenties percent on Sanofi sales, up to $350 million in launch payments for the COVID-flu combination and up to $200 million for each new vaccine launch using its Matrix-M formulation.
“We will be generating revenue from milestones and working to build momentum on potential future royalties versus booking sales of our own in the COVID market,” CEO John Jacobs said on a conference call.
The company reported quarterly sales of $49.8 million from COVID vaccines, its only product on the market, down 80.2% from the year earlier.
Novavax also said it was uncertain about the regulatory environment with the new Trump administration, which has been seeking to dramatically cut government spending.
The company said its business may be negatively impacted if any constraints were placed on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s ability to review products.
Its net loss was $81 million for the quarter ended December 31, compared with a net loss of $178.3 million a year ago.
(Reporting by Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
