Novavax Extends SK Bioscience Partnership For Supply Of 40M COVID-19 Vaccine Doses

Novavax, a biotechnology company, and SK Group’s vaccine subsidiary extended their collaboration and license agreement for the manufacturing of an additional 40 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine for South Korea. The deal is in addition to the existing manufacturing deal between the two companies.

Pick the best stocks and maximize your portfolio:

Discover top-rated stocks from highly ranked analysts with Analyst Top Stocks!
Easily identify outperforming stocks and invest smarter with Top Smart Score Stocks

The moves comes after SK Bioscience won an order for the supply of 40 million doses of NVX-CoV2373 to the Korean government, which is scheduled to be handed over at the beginning of 2021.

Terms of the deal include technology transfer related to the production of Novavax’s (NVAX) protein antigen, the supply of Matrix M adjuvant, and full support to SK Bioscience for securing regulatory approval as needed.

Novavax CEO Stanley C. Erck said, “SK Bioscience shares our sense of urgency to deliver a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine to protect the global population, including the people of South Korea.”

“We are proud to expand our partnership, which is another great milestone for both companies toward increasing the supply of NVX-CoV2373,” Erck added. (See Novavax stock analysis on TipRanks)

Last month, Novavax released UK Phase 3 trial data, which showed that NVX-CoV2373 demonstrated 89.3% efficacy in protecting against COVID-19. Currently, Phase 3 trials are ongoing in the US and Mexico.

On Feb. 4, B. Riley Financial analyst Mayank Mamtani reiterated a Buy rating on the stock with a price target of $334 (15% upside potential).

According to Mamtani, Novavax is focused on “continued clinical trial execution to further solidify leadership in C-19 vaccine development and catalyze momentum on regulatory approvals.”

Novavax shares have exploded almost 94% over the past six months, while the stock still scores a Strong Buy consensus rating based on 5 unanimous Buys. That’s alongside an average analyst price target of $274.80, which implies around 5.2% downside potential over the next 12 months.