Manufacturing and regulatory delays led to sluggish uptake of Novavax’s traditional protein-based Covid-19 vaccine in key markets. – Reuterspic: Novavax Inc's shares plunged to a three-year low on Wednesday , a day after the Covid-19 vaccine maker raised doubts about its ability to remain in business.
Gavi said it reserves “its rights to recover the advance payments” made to Novavax as part of an Advance Purchase Agreement, in a statement to Reuters, adding that it was unable to comment further due to ongoing legal proceedings. In Europe, the shot was initially given the green light in December 2021. As of Feb 23, only 219,395 doses had been administered of nearly 13 million distributed in EU/EEA countries, according to data from the European Centre for Disease Control.
Companies will need to update their vaccine each year to match circulating strains. Novavax faces near-term risks as protein-based vaccines take longer to produce than mRNA-based competitors, Novavax CEO John Jacobs has said.