Why Is COVID-19 Vaccine Maker Novavax Stock Trading Lower On Wednesday?

On November 1, Novavax, Inc. NVAX and the U.K. Health Security Agency, representing the U.K. Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, signed a Termination and Settlement Agreement and an amendment to resolve disputes over their updated COVID-19 vaccine supply contract from July 1, 2022.

As per the SEC filing, the agreement releases both parties from any claims related to that prior contract.

As part of the settlement, Novavax and the U.K. Health Security Agency agreed to end the supply contract and settle disputed upfront payments Novavax previously received.

Under the terms, Novavax will refund $123.8 million to the U.K. agency in quarterly payments of $10.3 million over three years, with the final payment due by June 30, 2027.

This amount includes $11.3 million in interest, which can be avoided if Novavax pays ahead of schedule. According to the amendment, the first quarterly payment is due on November 30, 2024.

The two parties initially entered into a COVID-19 vaccine supply deal in 2020, and the United Kingdom government agreed to purchase 60 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine.

The company's protein-based adjuvanted shot NVX-CoV2373 was renamed Nuvaxovid after being authorized by the U.K.'s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in 2022.

Recently, the FDA has placed a clinical hold on Novavax's Investigational New Drug (IND) application for its COVID-19-influenza combination (CIC) and stand-alone influenza vaccine candidates.

The clinical hold is due to a spontaneous report of a serious adverse event (SAE) of motor neuropathy in a single CIC Phase 2 trial participant outside the U.S. who received the vaccine in January 2023.

Earlier in October, the European Commission approved Novavax's updated 2024-2025 Nuvaxovid COVID-19 Vaccine (recombinant, adjuvanted) (NVX-CoV2705), dispersion for injection, for use in individuals aged 12 and older to prevent COVID-19 in the European Union.

Price Action: NVAX stock is down 4.61% at $9.05 at last check Wednesday.

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