On May 10, 2024, Novavax announced that it had entered into a co-exclusive licensing agreement with Sanofi.

The terms of the agreement include: a co-exclusive license to co-commercialize Novavax’s current stand-alone adjuvanted COVID-19 vaccine worldwide (except in countries with existing Advance Purchase Agreements and in India, Japan and South Korea where Novavax has existing partnership agreements); a sole license to Novavax’s adjuvanted COVID-19 vaccine for use in combination with Sanofi’s flu vaccines while Novavax retained the right to and was developing its own COVID-19-Influenza Combination vaccine candidate; a non-exclusive license to use Novavax’s adjuvanted COVID-19 vaccine for use in combination with non-flu vaccines.

Under the terms of the licensing agreement:

• Novavax will receive an upfront payment of $500 million and up to $700 million in development, regulatory and launch milestones, up to $1.2 billion in total.
• Starting in 2025, Sanofi will book sales of Novavax’s adjuvanted COVID-19 vaccine and will support certain R&D, regulatory and commercial expenses.
• Novavax will receive tiered double-digit percentage royalty payments on sales by Sanofi of COVID-19 vaccines and COVID-19-Influenza Combination vaccines.
• Sanofi will be solely responsible for development and commercialization of any novel flu-COVID-19 combination vaccine containing a Sanofi flu vaccine.
• Outside of the collaboration, each party may develop and commercialize their own COVID-19-Influenza combination vaccines and adjuvanted products at their own cost.
• Novavax is entitled to additional launch and sales milestone opportunities of up to $200 million, plus mid-single digit royalties for each additional Sanofi vaccine product developed under a non-exclusive license with Novavax’s Matrix-M adjuvant technology.
• In addition, Sanofi will take a minority (<5%) equity investment in Novavax.

Novavax promotes improved health by discovering, developing and commercializing innovative vaccines to help protect against serious infectious diseases. Novavax, a global company based in Gaithersburg, Md., U.S., offers a differentiated vaccine platform that combines a recombinant protein approach, innovative nanoparticle technology and Novavax’s patented Matrix-M adjuvant to enhance the immune response. The Company’s portfolio includes its COVID-19 vaccine and its pipeline includes its COVID-19-Influenza Combination and stand-alone influenza vaccine candidates. In addition, Novavax’s adjuvant is included in the University of Oxford and Serum Institute of India’s R21/Matrix-M™ malaria vaccine.