[ad_1]
(Bloomberg) — Shares of Novavax Inc. fell the most in nearly four years on Thursday after the company announced it had reduced its vaccine supply to the UK and was seeking additional equity and debt.
Read more from Bloomberg
The biotech company, which makes vaccines to fight infectious diseases, said it is JPMorgan Chase & Co., Jefferies Financial Group Inc. and is offering $125 million in shares and $125 million in convertible bonds through Cowen Inc. It also said in a company filing that it was forced to pay the UK government after a contract to supply Covid-19 vaccines fell in half.
Shares of Novavax fell more than 34% to close at $11.32 after the announcements, the lowest since March 2020. It is the biggest one-day loss for the company since February 2019, when it lost 67% after a vaccine trial for respiratory syncytial virus. Disappointing results. Shares of Novavax are down 92% since the start of this year.
Raising capital and changing supply contracts are the latest in a series of recent setbacks for the company. Its Covid-19 vaccine – much of the company’s business – has seen persistent delays and was first approved for emergency use in the US in July of this year. More than 85% of Novavax’s revenue for the third quarter came from its Novaxovid vaccine for Covid-19, executives said during the company’s most recent earnings call, with the remaining 15% from grant revenue.
In total, Novavax has distributed 984,600 doses of its Covid vaccine in the US, which Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. is a small fraction of the millions of doses, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Novavax’s vaccine differs from Pfizer’s and Moderna’s by mimicking the protein the coronavirus uses to enter cells, rather than using mRNA technology. Novavax also has shots for the flu, respiratory syncytial virus and other coronaviruses such as SARS and MERS in its pipeline, each in various stages of clinical trials.
According to the filing, its agreement with the UK initially called for 1 million doses and the possibility of an additional 15 million contingent upon government approval. Novavax said it had not received approval by its Nov. 30 deadline, and would therefore be obligated to pay $112.5 million and supply only 7.5 million doses. The company has until November 30 next year to get approval from the UK’s vaccine committee for its remaining supply.
(Updates share price in third paragraph; adds reference to NovaVex products from fourth paragraph)
Read more from Bloomberg Businessweek
©2022 Bloomberg LP
[ad_2]
Source link
