Under the investment, SK bioscience will acquire a 7% stake or 6.5 million shares of Novavax’s common stock for $84.5m in lieu of some of Novavax’s payment owed to the South Korean biotech company
SK Bioscience will acquire 6.5 million shares of Novavax. (Credit: PR Newswire/ SK bioscience)
South Korea-based SK Bioscience announced a strategic equity investment in US-based biotechnology company Novavax to strengthen the strategic partnership.
Under the investment, SK bioscience will acquire a 7% stake or 6.5 million shares of Novavax’s common stock for $84.5m, or $13 per share through a private placement. Both firms also signed royalty deals worth $4m.
The deal comes in lieu of some of Novavax’s payment owed to the South Korean biotech company, thus giving the cash-strapped Covid-19 vaccine producer some time.
Novavax president and CEO John Jacobs said: “This agreement is grounded in a productive multiyear relationship through which the companies have come to know each other’s strengths well.
“SK bioscience’s significant decision to invest in Novavax reflects their confidence in our scientific and commercial expertise, and the potential to increase value for both companies and their stakeholders.
“We look forward to evolving our relationship to focus on commercialization and identifying strategic future opportunities while we continue to pursue our shared goal of delivering life-saving vaccines in the region.”
Additionally, SK bioscience and Novavax have extended their current license agreement for the latter’s updated Covid-19 vaccine, which is presently under development for annual vaccination.
As part of the deal, the biotech company will be granted exclusive rights to Novavax’s Covid-19 variant vaccine in South Korea and non-exclusive rights in Thailand and Vietnam to distribute and market the vaccine.
This marks a strategic change in the collaboration from the pandemic phase to the endemic phase, the South Korean firm said.
Using the exclusive variant strain antigens from Novavax and the Matrix-M adjuvant, SK Bioscience will produce and market medicinal substances and vaccine products.
SK bioscience CEO Jaeyong Ahn said: “We believe that the strategic equity investment and the continuous cooperation between SK bioscience and Novavax, which are among the few companies that focused on developing Covid-19 vaccines during the pandemic, will create powerful synergy.
“SK bioscience is focused on developing a successful global cooperative model in terms of company growth, health promotion, and response to the next pandemic.”
Through the strengthened collaboration, SK Bioscience will study potential future partnerships with Novavax including the use of the adjuvant Matrix-M from Novavax.