Novavax cuts 2024 revenue forecast, shrinks European presence

By Leroy Leo

(Reuters) -Novavax on Thursday trimmed its annual revenue forecast again and said it would pare back its presence in Europe through the rest of the year, ahead of handing over the rights to sell its COVID-19 vaccine to partner Sanofi in 2025.

The company's vaccine had failed to make a significant dent in the market share of early COVID-vaccine entrants such as Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, and last year raised doubts about its ability to remain in business.

"We are concentrating our commercial efforts for the remainder of the year on our largest market, the U.S.," Chief Operating Officer John Trizzino said on a post-earnings call.

The company would reduce its sales infrastructure in Europe and focus on select markets such as Germany, Italy and Poland.

Novavax expects overall demand for COVID vaccines in the U.S. to remain similar to last year, but anticipates its own performance to be better, Trizzino said.

The company has sought authorization for its fall-season COVID shot targeting the JN.1 strain from the U.S. and European regulators.

Its shares rose 5% on Thursday. The stock has plunged more than 95% from the high hit in 2021 during the peak of the pandemic.

In May, Novavax signed a licensing deal worth at least $1.2 billion with Sanofi for its COVID vaccine.

The deal provided the U.S. biotech firm with much needed liquidity while boosting the French drugmaker's plans to co-develop a combination of its influenza and COVID vaccine.

Novavax, which missed second-quarter revenue and profit estimates, cut its full-year forecast range for total revenue to $700 million to $800 million, from between $970 million and $1.17 billion.

Last week, Moderna also cut its 2024 revenue forecast, partly due to low COVID sales in the EU.

Novavax now expects $275 million to $375 million in product sales for the year, compared with its earlier forecast of between $400 million and $600 million, which also included royalties and other revenue.

(Reporting by Leroy Leo in Bengaluru and Michael Erman in New York; Editing by Maju Samuel)