Novavax Reports 2022 First Quarter Earnings, COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout
Despite a significantly slower than expected COVID-19 vaccine rollout, Novavax reports early 2022 as its first profitable quarter.
Today, Novavax reported its financial earning from the first quarter of 2022. Additionally, the biotechnology company reiterated plans to develop a combined COVID-19 and influenza vaccine.
“Importantly, as new variants have emerged, we have progressed our strategy to be ready to address the dynamic environment and continue development beyond COVID-19 with our COVID-19-Influenza combination vaccine candidate,” said Novavax CEO Stanley C. Erck.
Novavax is coming off of its first profitable quarter as a commercial stage company, with an achieved revenue of $704 million and a net income of $203 million. However, its shares dropped by 20% today after the announcement of a slower-than-anticipated vaccine rollout.
Novavax has delivered approximately 42 million doses of its vaccine, sold under the names Nuvaxovid and Covovax, across Europe, Canada, South Korea, Indonesia, Australia, and New Zealand. However, this falls short of its initial distribution goal of 2 billion vaccine doses.
In the first quarter of 2022 alone, Novavax had promised to deliver 80 million doses, and the failure to do so has undoubtedly shaken investors. Though Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine is approved and available in 170 countries, they have encountered manufacturing issues that delayed further approvals.
The Novavax COVID-19 vaccine has notably not been approved in the US, but the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) is set to discuss potential authorization on June 7.
With its achieved revenue of $704 million, Novavax maintains projections that its total revenue for 2022 will be between $4-5 billion. The company is also looking to expand its COVID-19 vaccine for pediatric populations, as well as for homologous and heterologous boosting.
Novavax reported that a UK phase 3 study of its COVID-19 vaccine demonstrated 82.5% efficacy against COVID-19 infection, 82.7% protection against disease, and 100% efficacy against severe disease. They stated plans to continue assessing and developing their vaccine, with results from Omicron-specific studies expected in the third quarter of 2022.
The Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 subvariants have caused unprecedented breakthrough infections, and vaccine companies are studying the efficacy of their respective candidates. Trial results from the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are expected next month.
