By Siddhi Mahatole and Michael Erman
May 6 (Reuters) – Novavax on Wednesday beat Wall Street estimates for first-quarter revenue, as upfront and milestone payments from vaccine supply and licensing deals helped offset pressure from sagging demand, sending its shares up more than 14%.
The company relies on licensing deals and partnerships tied to its vaccine technology to drive revenue growth as narrower U.S. vaccine recommendations weigh on demand for its COVID-19 shot.
Novavax’s strategy of licensing out assets and partnering early in development has left it “partially insulated” from policy uncertainty as it avoids taking products through late‑stage trials and commercialization on its own, CEO John Jacobs told Reuters.
The company is targeting profitability by 2028, relying on the rollout of a COVID-flu combination vaccine, which includes its shot, Nuvaxovid, under a licensing deal with France’s Sanofi worth at least $1.2 billion.
Nuvaxovid, a traditional protein-based shot, had showed side effects that were less severe and shorter in duration compared with Moderna’s mRNA-based vaccine, mNEXSPIKE, in a head‑to‑head study last month.
Novavax reported first-quarter revenue of $139.5 million, surpassing analysts’ estimate of $78.3 million, according to LSEG-compiled data.
It gained $30 million in the first-quarter as part of its licensing deal with Pfizer earlier this year for its Matrix-M adjuvant, which boosts the body’s immune response to vaccines.
“Despite whatever is happening in the macro environment, there seems to be a very strong interest,” in Matrix-M, Jacobs said on a call with analysts.
Novavax said it has expanded partnerships this year to explore use of Matrix-M across additional infectious diseases and oncology.
The company aims to bring its in-house vaccine candidate for C. difficile, a bacterial disease, into clinical trials as early as 2027 and sees a commercial opportunity of $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion.
Novavax maintained its 2026 adjusted revenue forecast of between $230 million and $270 million, excluding royalties and sales from the Sanofi deal.
(Reporting by Siddhi Mahatole and Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru and Michael Erman in New Jersey; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
