(Reuters) -Novavax raised its full-year adjusted revenue forecast on Wednesday, banking on higher sales tied to its vaccine supply partnerships, including with South Korea’s SK Bioscience and Japan’s Takeda.
Shares of the biotech were up 4.3% in premarket trading, after it also beat Wall Street expectations for second-quarter revenue, driven by a $175 million milestone payment related to U.S. approval of its COVID-19 shot, Nuvaxovid, in May.
Novavax, which is shifting its focus to commercializing vaccine candidates through partnerships, had licensed the rights for Nuvaxovid, its sole commercial product, to French drugmaker Sanofi in an up to $1.2 billion deal.
The company raised its 2025 adjusted revenue forecast to between $1 billion and $1.05 billion, from $975 million to $1.03 billion earlier. This excludes Sanofi sales and royalties.
“This quarter we continued to progress our growth strategy,” said CEO John Jacobs. “We look forward to continuing to build on this foundation into the second half of the year.”
Novavax’s traditional protein-based COVID-19 shot offers an alternative technology to messenger RNA-based rivals from Pfizer and Moderna, but has failed to make a mark in the U.S. vaccine market due to manufacturing issues and regulatory hurdles.
The biotech said it plans to conduct the post-marketing study on Nuvaxovid requested by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2025 and 2026, and estimates it to cost between $70 million and $90 million. The company expects Sanofi to reimburse about 70% of the costs, while it will absorb the rest.
Novavax reported total revenue of $239 million during the quarter, compared with analysts’ average estimate of $147.96 million, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Net income for the three months ended June 30 came in at $106.51 million, compared with $162.38 million a year earlier.
(Reporting by Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
