Novavax ends sale agreement with Gavi

Novavax Inc. announced that it had sent a written notification to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, terminating with immediate effect an agreement for the sale of its COVID-19 vaccine to low- and middle-income nations.

The business cited Gavi’s failure to acquire the 350 million doses it had promised to purchase for the COVAX facility in May last year.

The COVAX facility is a collaborative effort between Gavi, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations for the equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in developing nations.

Novavax received a non-refundable $350 million advance payment from Gavi last year and another $350 million this year after the vaccine acquired the WHO’s emergency use status.

According to the company, the termination has not resulted in any fines.

Novavax also has an agreement with the Serum Institute of India for the production of the vaccine under the brand name Covovax, which will be provided to the COVAX plant.

It was anticipated that Serum Institute would produce and sell around 750 million doses of Covovax to the facility.

Novavax and Serum Institute were not immediately accessible to comment on whether this agreement was also cancelled.

The announcement is a result of low demand for the company’s vaccine in the context of a global oversupply of COVID-19 vaccines and declining demand.

At the beginning of this month, the business again lowered its full-year outlook due to a worldwide delay in vaccine approvals. Covovax and Serum were the ninth and tenth vaccines to get the WHO’s emergency listing, respectively.

Gavi has to release any statement with regard to the matter.