By Bhanvi Satija and Natalie Grover
(Reuters) – Novavax Inc’s shares plunged more than 24% in U.S. premarket trading on Wednesday, a day after the COVID-19 vaccine maker raised doubts about its ability to remain in business.
The stock had dropped as much as 24.4% to $7.0 by 5:30 a.m. ET (1030 GMT), while its Frankfurt-listed shares fell 24.8%.
The company, which reported fourth-quarter earnings late on Tuesday, flagged significant uncertainty around its 2023 revenue, funding from the U.S. government, and pending arbitration with global vaccine alliance Gavi.
Novavax’s vaccine was meant to convince those skeptical about mRNA shots from rivals Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech to get immunized, but manufacturing and regulatory delays led to sluggish uptake in key markets.
In the U.S., where the vaccine was authorized in July 2022, only around 80,000 of its shots have been administered, according to government data.
In Europe, the shot was initially given the green light in December 2021. Altogether, only 219,395 doses have been administered of nearly 13 million distributed in EU/EEA countries, according to data from the European Centre for Disease Control up to Feb. 23.
The shot was also endorsed by UK regulators last year, but a panel of experts that advises the government on immunization only backed its use in exceptional circumstances.
The Department of Health and Social Care did not immediately respond to a Reuters query on how many doses have been deployed so far.
Novavax, like other COVID vaccine makers, is also gearing up for changes to the way the vaccines are rolled out, with global regulators expecting vaccination campaigns to be conducted once a year, similar to flu inoculations.
Companies will need to change their vaccine each year to match circulating strains. Novavax faces near-term risks as protein-based vaccines take longer to produce than mRNA-based competitors, Novavax CEO John Jacobs has said.
Jefferies’ analysts said they were lowering Novavax’s peak COVID-19 market share to 15% from 25%, and slashed their price target on the U.S. stock to $68 from $90, in a client note on Wednesday.
The shot is the company’s first marketed product, after more than 35 years in business.
Shares of the company lost nearly 93% in value last year, marking their worst yearly performance on record. As of last close, Novavax’s U.S.-listed shares are down 97% from their February 2021 record high of $331.68.
(Reporting by Amanda Cooper and Natalie Grover in London, Amruta Khandekar and Bhanvi Satija in Bengaluru; Editing by Uttaresh Venkateshwaran and Mark Potter)
