Novavax Rallies As It Strikes New COVID-19 Vaccine Manufacturing, Supply Partnership

Close on the heels of reporting its quarterly results, Novavax, Inc. NVAX announced a manufacturing and supply deal with a South Korean company on Thursday. 

What Happened: Gaithersburg, Maryland-based Novavax said it has entered into a development and supply agreement with SK bioscience for the antigen component of NVX-CoV2373, its investigational SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. 

SK bioscience is the vaccine business subsidiary of the South Korean conglomerate SK Group.

The agreement calls for SK bioscience to manufacture the vaccine antigen component for use in the final drug product globally. The South Korean company will initiate production of the antigen component using the cell culture and recombinant protein capability at its vaccine facility in Andong L-house, South Korea beginning this month. 

"We are proud to partner with SK bioscience to fulfill our commitment to ensure global supply of NVX-CoV2373 in alignment with our partnership with CEPI," Stanley Erck, Novavax's president and CEO, said in a statement. 

The companies have also signed a letter of intent with South Korea's Ministry of Health and Welfare to work toward broad and equitable access to NVX-CoV2373 for the global market as well as to make the vaccine available in South Korea.

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Why It's Important: The CDMO agreement will serve to increase the potential global supply of the NVX-CoV2373 vaccine, Novavax said.

It leverages the capacity reservation agreement between SK bioscience and the CEPI, the vaccine developer said. 

Novavax is on a contract signing spree to scale up manufacturing, having previously negotiated partnerships with the Serum Institute of India and Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd TAK.

NVAX Price Action: Novavax shares were rising 10.73% to $137.77 at last check Thursday. 

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