nvax-20251231
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UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
Form 10-K
For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025
OR
For the transition period from to .
Commission File No. 000-26770
NOVAVAX, INC.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
(State of incorporation) (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)
21 Firstfield Road,
Gaithersburg, Maryland 20878
(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (240)268-2000
N/A
(Former Name, Former Address and Former Fiscal Year, if Changed Since Last Report)
Title of each class Trading Symbol Name of each exchange on which registered
Common Stock, Par Value $0.01 per share NVAX The Nasdaq Global Select Market
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: Not Applicable
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☒
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
Large accelerated filer ☒ Accelerated filer ☐
Non-accelerated filer ☐ Smaller reporting company ☐
Emerging growth company ☐
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒
If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial
statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to § 240.10D-1(b). ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes ☐ No ☒
The aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates of the registrant (based on the last reported sale price of registrant’s common stock on June 30, 2025 on the Nasdaq Global Select Market) was approximately $1,018,000,000.
As of February 16, 2026, there were 162,935,945 shares of the registrant’s common stock outstanding.
Documents incorporated by reference: Portions of the registrant’s Definitive Proxy Statement to be filed no later than 120 days after the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 in connection with the registrant’s 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K to the extent indicated herein.
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NOVAVAX, INC.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
PART I
Item 1. BUSINESS 4
Item 1A. RISK FACTORS 26
Item 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS 68
Item 1C. CYBERSECURITY 68
Item 2. PROPERTIES 69
Item 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS 69
Item 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES 70
PART II
Item 6. RESERVED 71
Item 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK 84
Item 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA 85
Item 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES 85
Item 9B. OTHER INFORMATION 86
Item 9C. DISCLOSURE REGARDING FOREIGN JURISDICTIONS THAT PREVENT INSPECTIONS 87
PART III
Item 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS, AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE 87
Item 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION 87
Item 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTANT FEES AND SERVICES 88
PART IV
Item 15. EXHIBITS AND FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES 89
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CERTAIN DEFINITIONS
All references in this Annual Report on Form 10-K to “Novavax,” the “Company,” “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to Novavax, Inc. including its wholly-owned subsidiaries (unless the context otherwise indicates). All references in this Annual Report on Form 10-K to “NuvaxovidTM” or “COVID-19 Vaccine” refer to the NuvaxovidTM COVID-19 vaccine; all references to "JN.1 COVID-19 Vaccine" refer to the NuvaxovidTM COVID-19 Vaccine for the 2025-2026 vaccination season.
NOTE REGARDING TRADEMARKS
NovavaxTM, NuvaxovidTM, Matrix-MTM, Matrix-ATM, Matrix-CTM, Matrix-VTM, PrepareTM, ResolveTM, and ResVaxTM are trademarks of Novavax. Any other trademarks referred to in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are the property of their owners. All rights reserved. We do not intend our use or display of other companies’ trade names or trademarks to imply an endorsement or sponsorship of us by such companies, or any relationship with any of these companies.
FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION
This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. As a result of many factors, such as those set forth under “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements. Please also see the section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.”
SUMMARY OF RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH OUR BUSINESS
Our business is subject to numerous risks. The following is a summary of the principal risk factors described in this section:
•We have a history of losses and our future profitability is uncertain.
•We will continue to require significant funding to maintain our current level of operations and fund the further development of our vaccine candidates.
•Our existing collaboration, funding and supply agreements, including the Sanofi CLA and our APAs, do not assure success of our vaccine candidates or vaccines or that we will be able to fully fund our vaccine candidates or vaccines or our operations, and if we are unable to satisfy the performance obligations under such agreements, we may not be eligible to receive milestone payments under such agreements, the agreements may be terminated, the purchase commitments may be reduced or we may be required to refund advance payments.
•Limitations on the use of our net operating losses and other tax attributes could adversely affect our financial condition.
•Because our vaccine product development and commercialization efforts depend on new and rapidly evolving technologies we cannot be certain that our efforts will be successful.
•Clinical and preclinical development involves a lengthy and expensive process with an uncertain outcome, and the results of prior clinical trials are not necessarily predictive of our future results.
•Any difficulties or delays in the commencement or completion, or the termination or suspension, of our current or planned clinical trials could result in increased costs to us, delay or limit our ability to generate revenue or adversely affect our commercial prospects.
•We may find it difficult to enroll subjects in our clinical trials. If we encounter difficulties enrolling subjects in our clinical trials, our clinical development activities could be delayed or otherwise adversely affected.
•Use of our vaccine candidates could be associated with adverse side effects, adverse events or other safety risks, which could delay or preclude approval, cause us to suspend or discontinue clinical trials, abandon a vaccine candidate, limit the commercial profile of an approved label or result in other significant negative consequences that could severely harm our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition.
•We are a biotechnology company and face significant risk in developing, manufacturing, and commercializing our products and vaccine candidates.
•We must identify vaccines for development with our technologies and establish successful third-party relationships.
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•We rely on third parties to conduct preclinical studies and clinical trials. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties, comply with applicable regulatory requirements or meet expected deadlines, our development programs and our ability to seek or obtain regulatory approval for or commercialize our vaccine candidates may be delayed.
•We currently rely on third parties for the manufacture of our vaccine candidates for clinical development and expect to continue to rely on third parties for the foreseeable future. This reliance on third parties increases the risk that we will not have sufficient quantities of our vaccine candidates or such quantities at an acceptable cost, which could delay, prevent or impair our development or potential commercialization efforts.
•Because we depend on third parties to conduct some of our laboratory testing and clinical trials, and a significant amount of our vaccine manufacturing and distribution, we may encounter delays in or lose some control over our efforts to develop and supply products and vaccine candidates.
•Many of our competitors have significantly greater resources and experience, which may negatively impact our commercial opportunities and those of our current and future licensees.
•The regulatory approval processes of the FDA and comparable foreign authorities are lengthy, time consuming and inherently unpredictable, and if we are ultimately unable to obtain regulatory approval for our vaccine candidates, our business will be substantially harmed.
•Our business may be adversely affected if we do not successfully execute our business development initiatives.
•Servicing our 2031 Notes and our 2027 Notes requires a significant amount of cash, and we may not have sufficient cash flow resources to pay our debt.
•Because our stock price has been and will likely continue to be highly volatile, the market price of our common stock may be lower or more volatile than expected.
•Litigation or regulatory investigations could have a material adverse impact on our results of operation and financial condition.
•We or the third parties upon whom we depend may be adversely affected by natural or man-made disasters or public health emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
PART I
Item 1. BUSINESS
Overview
Novavax, Inc., together with our wholly owned subsidiaries, tackles some of the world’s most pressing health challenges with its scientific expertise in vaccines and its proven technology platform, including its Matrix-MTM adjuvant and protein-based nanoparticles.
Our corporate growth strategy focuses on maximizing the impact of our cutting-edge technology by forging partnerships for our Matrix-M adjuvant and research and development (R&D) assets while maintaining a lean and focused operating model.
Our technology platform, combined with our deep vaccine expertise, is the fuel for innovation and partnerships, and we believe it has the potential to create significant value. Our proprietary Matrix-MTM adjuvant when added to vaccines, has been shown to help induce a stronger and longer-lasting immune response. Our recombinant protein-based nanoparticle technology has been shown to be highly immunogenetic. Together, we believe that our technology platform can induce potent, durable and broad immune responses, with the potential to be antigen-sparing. Our Matrix-MTM adjuvant can increase both antibody and cell-mediated immune responses to the vaccine and it has demonstrated a favorable tolerability profile in clinical trials. Our technology platform is used in our authorized COVID-19 Vaccine (Nuvaxovid) and the R21/Matrix-MTM adjuvant malaria vaccine (as defined below).
Additionally, we are advancing our pipeline programs with a focus on potentially high-value assets in areas with unmet medical need, compelling scientific rationale and strong commercial opportunity.
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Furthermore, we provide our Matrix-MTM adjuvant for use in collaborations. These include the R21/Matrix-MTM adjuvant malaria vaccine, a malaria vaccine developed by our partner, the Jenner Institute, University of Oxford (“R21/Matrix-MTM adjuvant malaria vaccine”) and manufactured by Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd. (“SII”). R21/Matrix-MTM adjuvant malaria vaccine is authorized in several countries. Additionally, we provide Matrix-MTM adjuvant for use in various programs in preclinical and clinical stage, as well as preclinical investigations. Examples include, several material transfer agreements with global pharmaceutical companies for exploration of Matrix-MTM adjuvant used as a potential advancement in their pipeline, including a pre-clinical collaboration in oncology.
We were incorporated in 1987 under the laws of the State of Delaware. Our principal executive offices are located at 21 Firstfield Road, Gaithersburg, Maryland, 20878, and our telephone number is (240) 268-2000. Our common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “NVAX.”
Technology Overview
We believe our recombinant nanoparticle vaccine technology and our proprietary Matrix-MTM adjuvant are well suited for the development and commercialization of vaccine candidates targeting areas both within and beyond the infectious disease space.
Recombinant Nanoparticle Vaccine Technology
Once a target of interest has been identified, the genetic sequence encoding an antigen is selected for developing the vaccine construct. The genetic sequence may be optimized to enhance protein stability or confer resistance to degradation. This genetic construct is inserted into the baculovirus Spodoptera frugiperda (“Sf-/BV”) insect cell-expression system, which enables efficient, large-scale expression of the optimized protein. The Sf-/BV system produces protein-based antigens that are properly folded and modified, which can be critical for functional, protective immunity. Our testing shows this results in a highly immunogenic nanoparticle that is ready to be formulated with Matrix-MTM adjuvant.
Matrix-MTM Adjuvant
Our proprietary Matrix-MTM adjuvant is a key differentiator within our platform. This adjuvant has enabled potent, well tolerated, and durable efficacy by stimulating the entry of antigen presenting cells (“APCs”) into the injection site and enhancing antigen presentation in local lymph nodes. This in turn activates APCs, T-cell and B-cell populations, and plasma cells, which promote the production of high affinity antibodies, an immune boosting response. This potent mechanism of action enables a lower dose of antigen to achieve the desired immune response, thereby contributing to increased vaccine supply and manufacturing capacity. These immune-boosting and dose-sparing capabilities contribute to the adjuvant’s highly unique profile.
We continue to evaluate commercial opportunities for the use of our Matrix-MTM adjuvant alongside vaccine antigens produced by other manufacturers. Matrix-MTM adjuvant is being evaluated in combination with several partner-led malaria vaccine candidates, including for R21/Matrix-MTM adjuvant malaria vaccine. The R21Matrix-MTM adjuvant malaria vaccine has been licensed to SII for commercialization. In May 2024, pursuant to the Sanofi CLA, Sanofi received a non-exclusive license to develop and commercialize other vaccine products that include our Matrix-MTM adjuvant. In 2025, we signed three material transfer agreements with other pharmaceutical companies to explore the use of our Matrix-MTM adjuvant for the potential advancement of their pipeline candidates, with the latest material transfer agreement signed in the fourth quarter of 2025. In January 2026, we entered into a non-exclusive license agreement with Pfizer for use of Matrix-M adjuvant in up to two infectious disease areas.
APAs
We have entered into APAs (also referred to as “supply agreements” throughout this Annual Report on Form 10-K) with various countries globally. The APAs typically contain terms that include upfront payments intended to assist us in funding investments related to building out and operating our manufacturing and distribution network, among other expenses, in support of our global supply commitment. As of December 31, 2025, we have $0.4 billion of remaining obligations under APAs with certain countries globally. These obligations include $133.9 million related to an APA with the Commonwealth of Australia (“Australia”) for the purchase of doses of COVID-19 Vaccine (the “Australia APA”), $225.0 million under our APA with the Vaccine Alliance (“Gavi”), and $73.3 million related to various other countries. In December 2024, we entered into an amendment to the Australia APA pursuant to which, among other things, we acknowledged the cancellation by Australia of the delivery of certain doses of our COVID-19 Vaccine scheduled for delivery between the fourth quarter of 2023 and the fourth quarter of 2025 and we agreed to credit approximately $31 million of the advanced payment paid by Australia to us against
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outstanding invoices and invoices for the future delivery of approximately three million doses of COVID-19 Vaccine without requiring additional cash payments. In addition, the amendment provides for certain remedies for Australia, including return of unused credit, cancellation of doses, or termination of the Australia APA, in the event we are unable to gain regulatory approval of a variant COVID-19 Vaccine or supply doses per the terms of the agreement Specifically, Australia did not take delivery of doses that were due to be delivered in 2025 and may seek to cancel the future delivery of the 2025 as well as 2026 doses. If we are unable to provide doses per the supply schedule as amended, after six months, Australia may seek to terminate the APA. The amendment also provides Australia with the right to cancel doses if we fail to timely notify Australia of changes to our commercialization plans. In the event that we do not, on or before the relevant contractual deadlines, receive regulatory approval for, and deliver, the seasonally updated COVID-19 Vaccine, up to $92.5 million of deferred revenue may become refundable. As of December 31, 2025, $48.4 million was classified as current Deferred revenue and $85.4 million was classified as non-current Deferred revenue with respect to the Australia APA on our consolidated balance sheet, which will be recognized in product revenue as doses are delivered to Australia. In the third quarter of 2025 we withdrew our application for our COVID-19 Vaccine based on recommendations made by the TGA. The parties are in ongoing discussions and have agreed to a meeting to discuss outstanding issues and obligations under the APA. In light of these developments, we may seek to further amend the Australian APA, which amendment may not be achievable on acceptable terms or at all.
We had an APA with His Majesty the King in Right of Canada as represented by the Minister of Public Works and Government Services, as successor in interest to Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of Public Works and Government Services (the “Canadian government”), for the purchase of doses of COVID-19 Vaccine (as amended, the “Canada APA”). As of December 31, 2024, we had $555.7 million of current deferred revenue and $48.0 million of other current liabilities related to advanced payments and other commitments previously made under the Canada APA on our consolidated balance sheet. In March 2025, we received a communication (the “Notice”) terminating, with immediate effect, the Canada APA on the basis of us not receiving regulatory approval for our COVID-19 Vaccine using bulk antigen produced at Biologics Manufacturing Centre Inc. on or before December 31, 2024, pursuant to the terms of the Canada APA. As a result of the Notice, we have no remaining obligations to the Canadian government under the Canada APA. Therefore, during the year ended December 31, 2025, we recognized $575.7 million, previously recorded in deferred revenue and other current liabilities, as Product sales. Under the terms of the Canada APA, $28.0 million in advanced purchase payments previously received by us were refundable to the Canadian government within 30 days of receipt of the Notice. We repaid the $28.0 million in March 2025. The Canada APA also contemplated we and the Canadian government would endeavor to enter into a memorandum of understanding (the “MOU”) related to certain in-country commitments, including a $20.0 million escrow funding. The Notice also acknowledged that such MOU is no longer feasible and that the related funds may be released to us.
In March 2025, the Pharmaceutical Management Agency (“Pharmac”), a New Zealand Crown entity, and we executed a Deed of Settlement and Release (“New Zealand Settlement Agreement”) of our APA with New Zealand (the “New Zealand APA”). As part of the New Zealand Settlement Agreement, we paid Pharmac a refund of previously received upfront payments of $4.0 million. Under the New Zealand Settlement Agreement, we have no remaining obligation to Pharmac under the New Zealand APA. Therefore, during the year ended December 31, 2025, we recognized $27.3 million, previously in other current liabilities, as Product sales. As of December 31, 2024, we had $31.3 million included in Other current liabilities in our consolidated balance sheet related to the New Zealand APA.
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Commercial Products and Product Pipeline
Commercial Products
In 2025 and continuing during the term of the Sanofi CLA, Sanofi will lead commercialization efforts for our COVID-19 Vaccine (NuvaxovidTM). Our COVID-19 Vaccine has received authorizations from the U.S. FDA, the European Commission (“EC”), and several other countries for both adult and adolescent populations.
COVID-19 Vaccine Regulatory and Licensure
In May 2025, the U.S. FDA approved the BLA for NuvaxovidTM for active immunization to prevent COVID-19 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in adults 65 years and older and individuals 12 through 64 years who have at least one underlying condition that puts them at high risk for severe outcomes from COVID-19 (e.g. asthma, cancer, diabetes, obesity, smoking). The BLA approval was based on pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial data that showed NuvaxovidTM was safe and effective for the prevention of COVID-19. The BLA approval triggered a $175 million milestone payment under the Sanofi CLA.
In August 2025, the U.S. FDA approved the JN.1 COVID-19 Vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19 in individuals 65 years of age and older, or 12 years through 64 years of age with at least one underlying condition that puts them at high risk for severe outcomes from COVID-19.
In November 2025, we announced that we completed the transfer of the NuvaxovidTM BLA to Sanofi, who remains responsible for further development and commercialization of this product.
Novavax Pipeline
We are advancing our pipeline programs with a focus on potentially high-value assets in areas with unmet medical need, compelling scientific rationale and strong commercial opportunity. Development and advancement of our in-house
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pipeline leverages our core expertise and our experience in respiratory and infectious diseases and vaccines, and we intend to explore new opportunities with the potential to expand beyond infectious diseases.
Additionally, we intend to develop our early-stage pipeline using a disciplined and capital-efficient approach. Our R&D investment strategy seeks to place targeted investments on the programs with the highest potential value, both within infectious disease and beyond, with the intent of partnering these programs at proof of concept. We would consider advancing a program ourselves where data and commercial landscape indicate a unique high-value opportunity. We are conducting early-stage research in diseases such as, C. Diff, shingles and RSV combinations. In addition, we are developing a pandemic influenza vaccine candidate and pursuing funding opportunities to join preparedness options. Lastly, we are evaluating potential expansion beyond infectious diseases, where we believe our technology has the potential to augment and improve upon current therapies. In the first quarter of 2025, we entered into a preclinical collaboration with a partner to explore the application and utility of Matrix-MTM adjuvant with their cancer vaccine candidate.
Partner Pipeline
In addition to our own pipeline, we have several ongoing partnerships.
Under our Sanofi agreement, we have also provided a sole license to Sanofi for the independent development of a COVID-19 and influenza combination product using our COVID-19 Vaccine in combination with two of Sanofi’s separately marketed influenza vaccines, Fluzone High-Dose and Flublok. These two combination vaccine candidates were granted Fast Track designation by the U.S. FDA in December 2024 to prevent influenza and COVID-19 infections in individuals aged 50 and older. In October 2025, Sanofi reported positive Phase 1/2 results with their combination vaccine candidates and will engage with regulatory authorities on next steps. Sanofi also has a non-exclusive license to develop and commercialize combination products containing both our COVID-19 Vaccine and one or more non-influenza vaccines, and a non-exclusive license to develop and commercialize other vaccine products selected by Sanofi that include our Matrix-MTM adjuvant.
In September 2025, we amended the Sanofi CLA to expand Sanofi's license to include use of Novavax's Matrix-MTM adjuvant in Sanofi's pandemic influenza vaccine candidate program. Sanofi received funding from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority within the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, for early-stage work on this vaccine candidate including the Matrix-MTM adjuvant.
In January 2026, we entered into a License and Option Agreement with Pfizer Inc. (“Pfizer”) for use of our Matrix-MTM. Under the terms of the agreement, Pfizer will obtain a non-exclusive license for Matrix-MTM for use with Pfizer's products in two infectious disease areas. The agreement provides for an upfront payment of $30 million and we have the potential to receive up to $500 million in development and sales milestone payments. In addition to milestone payments, we are eligible to receive tiered high mid-single digit percentage royalty payments on sales of any product by Pfizer that includes Matrix-MTM.
Coronavirus Vaccine Clinical Development
We continue to evaluate vaccine safety, immunogenicity, and effectiveness through ongoing clinical trials and collaborative evidence-generating real-world studies.
Phase 4 Postmarketing Commitments
In May 2025, we announced that the U.S. FDA, as a part of its BLA approval of Nuvaxovid, requested that we conduct as one of our post-marketing commitments (“PMCs”) a Phase 4 prospective, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled efficacy and safety trial in individuals aged 50 through 64 without high-risk conditions for severe COVID-19. Although the BLA has since been transferred to Sanofi, we are currently conducting the PMC trial on behalf of Sanofi which will reimburse us for 70% of the PMC costs, capped at the currently agreed upon cost estimates. We updated our total expected costs and the amounts of variable consideration for research and development transition services that support further regulatory approval and development of the COVID-19 Vaccine (“Sanofi Transition Services”) for costs and reimbursements from the PMC. Revenue related to the PMC will be recognized in Licensing, royalties, and other revenue over time using an input method, consistent with Sanofi Transition Services.
In addition, in October 2025, we initiated an additional PMC study evaluating the safety and immunogenicity of Nuvaxovid in the population of individuals for which Nuvaxovid is approved in the U.S., i.e., individuals 12 through 64 years of age with at least one underlying condition that puts them at high risk for severe outcomes from COVID‐19 and in adults ≥ 65 years of age. Following the transfer of the U.S. marketing authorization, Sanofi is now responsible for the conduct of this study.
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COVID-Influenza Combination and Stand-alone Influenza Program
Phase 3 Clinical Trial of COVID-19 Influenza (“CIC”) and Stand-alone Influenza Vaccine Candidates
In December 2024, we initiated a Phase 3 immunogenicity and safety trial for our CIC and stand-alone influenza vaccine candidates to evaluate the immunogenicity and safety compared to our COVID-19 Vaccine and a licensed seasonal influenza vaccine comparator in adults aged 65 and older. Our Phase 3 immunogenicity and safety trial completed enrollment with an initial cohort of approximately 2,000 participants. In June 2025, we reported data from this initial cohort, which showed both vaccine candidates induced robust immune responses across all antigens tested. Both vaccine candidates were well tolerated with reactogenicity profiles that were comparable to authorized comparators. After consultation with the U.S. FDA, we determined that seeking an accelerated approval pathway for our CIC and stand-alone influenza candidates would not be feasible. While the Phase 3 immunogenicity and safety trial is not a pivotal study, the data will inform a future registrational Phase 3 program. We do not intend to make additional investments in these programs and are seeking a partner to advance both vaccine candidates.
Malaria
Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by a parasite that infects mosquitos and is subsequently transmitted to humans. According to the 2024 WHO World Malaria Report, in 2023, there were an estimated 263 million malaria cases and 597,000 malaria-related deaths worldwide. We believe malaria has the potential to be preventable through our partner-led R21/Matrix-MTM adjuvant malaria vaccine, which in 2024 the first doses were distributed and administered across the African region after in 2023 having received authorization in several countries and prequalification by the WHO.
R21/Matrix-MTM AdjuvantMalaria Vaccine
R21/Matrix-MTM adjuvant malaria vaccine, formulated with our Matrix-MTM adjuvant is developed by our partner, the Jenner Institute, University of Oxford, and manufactured by SII. We have an agreement with SII related to its manufacture of R21/Matrix-MTM adjuvant malaria vaccine under which SII purchases our Matrix-MTM adjuvant for use in development activities at cost and for commercial purposes at a tiered commercial supply price, and pays a royalty in the single- to low-double digit range based on vaccine sales for a period of 15 years after the first commercial sale of the vaccine in each country.
In July 2024, first commercial doses of R21/Matrix-MTM adjuvant malaria vaccine were administered to children in Cote d’Ivoire and South Sudan. As of February 2026, R21/Matrix-MTM adjuvant malaria vaccine is available in 24 countries.
R21/Matrix-MTM Adjuvant Malaria Vaccine Regulatory and Licensure
In December 2023, the WHO announced it prequalified the R21/Matrix-MTM adjuvant malaria vaccine to prevent malaria disease in children caused by the P. falciparum parasite in endemic areas. Prequalification status enables United Nations agencies to procure the vaccine for eligible countries and enabled rollout of the vaccine in mid-2024. The WHO recommended that the R21/Matrix-MTM adjuvant malaria vaccine be administered in a four-dose schedule beginning at five months of age.
License and Collaboration
A summary of our license and collaboration agreements follows:
Sanofi
In May 2024, we entered into the Sanofi CLA, to co-commercialize our COVID-19 Vaccine, including future updated versions that address seasonal COVID-19 variants. Under the terms of the agreement, we continued to commercialize our COVID-19 Vaccine through the end of the 2024-2025 vaccination season. Beginning in 2025 and continuing during the term of the Sanofi CLA, we and Sanofi will commercialize the COVID-19 Vaccine worldwide in accordance with a commercialization plan agreed by the parties, under which we will continue to supply certain of our existing APA customers and strategic partners, including Takeda and SII. Upon completion of the existing APAs, we and Sanofi will jointly agree on commercialization activities of each party in each jurisdiction. Sanofi has the right to develop novel influenza-COVID-19 combination vaccines utilizing our COVID-19 Vaccine and Sanofi’s seasonal influenza vaccine, combination products containing our COVID-19 Vaccine and one or more non-influenza vaccines, and multiple new vaccines utilizing our Matrix-MTM adjuvant. We are also
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responsible for performing services related to Sanofi Technology Transfer. Until the successful completion of such transfer, we will supply Sanofi with both COVID-19 Vaccine products and Matrix-MTM intermediary components for Sanofi’s use and we are eligible for reimbursement of such costs from Sanofi. In addition, we are responsible for Sanofi Transition Services and, in certain cases, are eligible for reimbursement of such costs from Sanofi.
Pursuant to the Sanofi CLA, we are eligible to receive development, technology transfer, launch, and sales milestone payments for COVID-19 Vaccine products, CIC products, and Adjuvant products. We are also eligible to receive royalty payments on Sanofi’s sales of such licensed products.
We are eligible to receive milestone payments totaling up to $350 million in the aggregate with respect to the COVID-19 Vaccine products, of which $75 million remains outstanding, and royalty payments in the high teens to low twenties percent on Sanofi’s sales of such licensed products. As of December 31, 2025, the remaining milestone payment is $75 million upon the completion of the technology transfer of the Company’s manufacturing process for the COVID-19 Vaccine products to Sanofi.
We are eligible to receive milestone payments totaling up to $125 million with respect to CIC products upon achievement of certain CIC Product-related development milestones and $225 million in CIC Product-related launch milestones. We are eligible to receive royalty payments in the high teens to low twenties percent on Sanofi’s sales of such licensed products.
We are also eligible to receive development, launch, and sales milestone payments of up to $200 million for each of the first four Adjuvant Products and $210 million for each Adjuvant Product thereafter, and mid-single digit sales royalties for 20 years on Sanofi’s sales of all such licensed products. In addition, a portion of the technology transfer costs and R&D costs incurred by us will be reimbursed by Sanofi in accordance with agreed upon plans and budgets.
Pfizer
On January 15, 2026, we entered into a License and Option Agreement with Pfizer Inc. (“Pfizer”) for use of our Matrix-MTM. Under the terms of the agreement, Pfizer will obtain a non-exclusive license for Matrix-MTM for use with Pfizer's products in up to two disease areas. The agreement provides for an upfront payment of $30 million and we have the potential to receive up to $500 million in development and sales milestone payments. In addition to milestone payments, we are eligible to receive tiered high mid-single digit percentage royalty payments on sales of any product by Pfizer that includes Matrix-MTM.
Takeda
On April 29, 2025, we entered into a collaboration and exclusive license agreement, as amended (“Amended Takeda CLA”), with Takeda "Pharmaceutical Company Limited (“Takeda”) which amended and superseded our collaboration and exclusive license agreement with Takeda, dated February 24, 2021 (“Original Takeda CLA”). The Original Takeda CLA, which granted Takeda an exclusive license to develop, manufacture, and commercialize the COVID-19 Vaccine in Japan, was amended so that Takeda may develop and commercialize a strain for the COVID-19 Vaccine that is different from the strain that we select for the year, provided such Takeda selected strain must be procured from us. Under the Amended Takeda CLA, Takeda will continue to purchase our Matrix-MTM adjuvant to manufacture doses of finished COVID-19 Vaccine with updated adjuvant forecast and other supply terms.
We determined the initial transaction price at inception of the Amended Takeda CLA to be $27.5 million, consisting of (i) $19.5 million of a non-refundable upfront payment, (ii) $4.0 million of non-cancelable annual support payments within the 18 month notice period for contract termination, and (iii) $4.0 million of previously unrecognized consideration from the Original Takeda CLA. We allocated $26.9 million of fixed consideration to the Updated Takeda License performance obligations and $0.6 million to Takeda Support Services.
We recognized revenue of $40.9 million related to the Updated Takeda License in 2025. The Takeda Support Services are recognized as revenue over time using an input method to measure progress by utilizing costs incurred to-date relative to total expected costs. Revenue recognized related to Takeda Support Services for the year ended December 31, 2025 was $0.8 million.
Under the Amended Takeda CLA, we received a non-refundable upfront payment of $19.5 million of which $5.0 million is creditable against royalties owed by Takeda for its fiscal year 2024. In addition, on an annual basis, we will receive $2.0 million to compensate us for services provided by us under the Takeda CLA, and we will receive an additional $8.0
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million annual milestone payment, of which $5.0 million is creditable against royalties owed by Takeda in its fiscal year 2025 or thereafter, if Takeda receives marketing approval of the COVID-19 Vaccine in that year or such approval is not necessary for such year. The parties have also updated the financial terms to replace the share of operating profits and, instead, provide us with a tiered royalty as a percentage of Takeda’s, its affiliates’ and sublicensees’ total net sales in the mid to high-teen percentages (subject to certain capped royalty reductions), which commenced on April 1, 2024 and will continue until the later of (a) twenty years after April 29, 2025, (b) all our know-how licensed under the Amended Takeda CLA has become publicly available through no fault of Takeda, and (c) the expiration of the last valid claim in the intellectual property rights licensed by us to Takeda under the Amended Takeda CLA covering COVID-19 Vaccine in Japan.
In connection with the Amended Takeda CLA, on April 29, 2025, we entered into a release agreement with Takeda under which we released Takeda and Takeda released us from all claims that were asserted or could have been asserted by either party against the other party that related to the Original Takeda CLA and the activities thereunder.
Serum
We previously granted SII exclusive and non-exclusive licenses for the development, co-formulation, filling and finishing, registration, and commercialization of our COVID-19 Vaccine and our CIC vaccine candidate. SII agreed to purchase our Matrix-MTM adjuvant and we granted SII a non-exclusive license to manufacture the antigen drug substance component of our COVID-19 Vaccine in SII’s licensed territory solely for use in the manufacture of COVID-19 Vaccine. We and SII equally split the revenue from SII’s sale of COVID-19 Vaccine in its licensed territory, net of agreed costs. In March 2020, we entered into an agreement with SII that granted SII a non-exclusive license for the use of Matrix-MTM adjuvant supplied by us to develop, manufacture, and commercialize R21/Matrix-MTM adjuvant (“SII R21 Agreement”), a malaria vaccine created by the Jenner Institute, University of Oxford (“R21/Matrix-M”). In December 2023, R21/Matrix-MTM received prequalification by the World Health Organization (“WHO”). In August 2022, we and SII entered into an influenza license agreement under which we granted SII licenses to develop, manufacture, and commercialize certain vaccine products including influenza vaccine products and influenza and coronavirus combination vaccine products (“CIC”) and are obligated to purchase up to approximately $34 million of certain raw materials under related agreements with SII. In May 2024, we and SLS entered into a supply agreement (the “SLS Supply Agreement”) under which SLS agreed to supply us with antigen drug substance and finished COVID-19 Vaccine doses. The SLS Supply Agreement includes the general terms and conditions of supply orders between us and SLS. We and SLS execute firm purchase orders, which include specific quantities to be delivered under the SLS Supply Agreement. We agreed to supply SLS with all Matrix-MTM adjuvant needed to manufacture finished COVID-19 Vaccine doses. In June 2025, we announced results of the initial cohort of our clinical study for its influenza and CIC vaccine candidates with the intent of partnering these programs. Under the SII R21 Agreement, SII purchases our Matrix-MTM adjuvant for use in development activities at cost and for commercial purposes at a tiered commercial supply price, and pays a royalty in the single-to low- double-digit range based on vaccine sales for a period of 15 years after the first commercial sale of the vaccine in each country.
Manufacturing and Supply
We are committed to discovering, developing, and commercializing innovative vaccines to prevent serious infectious diseases directly and by leveraging our strategic global partnerships. In 2025, our global manufacturing footprint was consistent with our contractual obligations to supply, and anticipated demand for COVID-19 Vaccine and Matrix-MTM adjuvant, and expected supply needs of Sanofi for both COVID-19 Vaccine products and Matrix-MTM intermediary components for use under the Sanofi CLA.
A summary of our key manufacturing and supply arrangements follows:
Matrix-MTM Adjuvant
We manufacture our proprietary saponin-based Matrix-MTM adjuvant at our Novavax AB facility in Uppsala, Sweden. We also have contract manufacturing arrangements with AGC Biologics and the Polypeptide Group to provide contract development and manufacturing services, supplying us with large-scale production of Matrix-MTM adjuvant.
Antigen Component of COVID-19 Vaccine
We have a supply agreement with SII and SLS for the manufacture of the antigen component of COVID-19 Vaccine and the co-formulation, fill, and finishing of the finished vaccine product. In May 2024, we entered into the SLS Supply Agreement under which SLS agreed to supply us with antigen drug substance and finished COVID-19 Vaccine doses. The SLS
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Supply Agreement includes the general terms and conditions of supply orders between us and SLS. We and SLS execute firm purchase orders, which include specific quantities to be delivered under the SLS Supply Agreement. We agreed to supply SLS with all Matrix-MTM adjuvant needed to manufacture finished COVID-19 Vaccine doses. Currently, we depend primarily on this supply agreement for co-formulation, filling and finishing of COVID-19 Vaccine doses.
Competition
The vaccine market is intensely competitive, characterized by rapid technological progress. Our technology is based upon utilizing the baculovirus expression system in insect cells to make recombinant vaccines. Our Matrix-MTM adjuvant has demonstrated a potent and well-tolerated effect by stimulating the entry of antigen presenting cells into the injection site and enhancing antigen presentation in local lymph nodes, boosting immune response. We believe this baculovirus expression system with our nanoparticle configuration formulated with our Matrix-MTM adjuvant offers many advantages compared to other technologies, such as enabling dose-sparing effects and refrigerator temperature storage. We believe our technology platform is well suited for developing COVID-19 and combination vaccines, as well as vaccines against a number of other infectious diseases and potentially beyond the infectious disease area into other therapeutic areas where we believe our technology has the capability to augment and improve on current approaches. We face competition in the development of our COVID-19 Vaccine, seasonal influenza vaccine candidate, CIC vaccine candidate and the other vaccine candidates in our pipeline, including our early-stage vaccine candidates.
A number of vaccine manufacturers, research institutions, and other organizations have developed a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. A variety of different vaccine technologies are being studied, including nucleic acid (RNA/DNA), viral vectors, live attenuated or inactivated, and protein-based vaccines. Nuvaxovid is the first protein-based COVID-19 Vaccine that was approved by the U.S. FDA and by the European Commission based on European Medicines Agency (“EMA”) in the European Union. As of February 2026, Nuvaxovid is one of three COVID-19 vaccines that have been approved by the U.S. FDA for the 2025-2026 vaccination season, with the other vaccines being marketed by Pfizer and Moderna.
Furthermore, a number of companies are selling vaccines for seasonal influenza employing a number of vaccine technologies including inactivated, recombinant and live attenuated technologies. Starting in the 2024-2025 season, all flu vaccines in the U.S. were trivalent vaccines designed to protect against three different influenza viruses, including two influenza A viruses and an influenza B / Victoria virus. Many seasonal influenza vaccines are currently approved and marketed, and most of these are marketed by major pharmaceutical companies such as Sanofi, GSK, and Seqirus. Competition in the sale of seasonal influenza vaccines is intense. For the older adult segment in the U.S., the CDC preferentially recommends Fluzone-HD®, an egg-based high-dose flu vaccine, Flublok®, a recombinant flu vaccine manufactured by Sanofi and Fluad®, an egg-based adjuvanted flu vaccine manufactured by Seqirus. Therefore, newly developed and approved products must be differentiated from existing vaccines in order to have commercial success. In order to show differentiation in the seasonal influenza market, a product may need to be more efficacious or be less expensive and quicker to manufacture, all while still showing a comparable or improved tolerability profile. Many of our competitors are working on new products and new generations of current products, some by adding an adjuvant that is used to increase the immunogenicity of that product, each of which is intended to be more efficacious than currently marketed products. Several competitors are working on developing seasonal influenza vaccines using different technologies than those in existing marketed vaccines, the most notable being mRNA from companies including Moderna and Pfizer. Despite the significant competition and advancing technologies, based on our completed Phase 2 trial results, we believe that our stand-alone influenza vaccine, our adjuvanted nanoparticle seasonal influenza product, has the potential to be at least as efficacious as current products or products being developed by our competitors. Additionally, we believe that our platform is well suited for combination vaccines, for example influenza and COVID-19. In December 2024, we initiated a Phase 3 immunogenicity and safety trial for our CIC and stand-alone influenza vaccine candidates to evaluate the immunogenicity and safety compared to our COVID-19 Vaccine and a licensed seasonal influenza vaccine comparator in adults aged 65 and older. Our Phase 3 immunogenicity and safety trial completed enrollment with an initial cohort of approximately 2,000 participants. In June 2025, we reported data from this initial cohort, which showed both vaccine candidates induced robust immune responses across all antigens tested. Both vaccine candidates were well tolerated with reactogenicity profiles that were comparable to authorized comparators.
Additionally, under the Sanofi CLA, our COVID-19 Vaccine is being used in combination with two Sanofi vaccines that are separately marketed influenza vaccines, Fluzone High-Dose and Flublok, to evaluate immunogenicity and safety in Phase 1/2 combination trials. These two combination vaccine candidates were granted Fast Track designation by the U.S. FDA to prevent influenza and COVID-19 infections in individuals aged 50 and older. In October 2025, Sanofi reported positive Phase 1/2 results with their combination vaccine candidates and will engage with regulatory authorities on next steps. Another
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manufacturer who is actively developing a COVID-19-influenza combination vaccine candidate is Moderna and are working with the U.S FDA for regulatory approval and commercialization.
In general, competition among pharmaceutical products is based in part on product efficacy, safety, reliability, availability, price, and patent position. An important factor is the relative timing of the market introduction of our products and our competitors’ products. Accordingly, the speed with which we can develop products, complete the clinical trials and approval processes, and supply commercial quantities of the products to the market is an important competitive factor. Our competitive position also may depend upon our ability to show differentiation with a product that is more efficacious and/or less expensive and quicker to manufacture. Other factors affecting our competitive position include our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel, obtain and maintain patent protection or otherwise develop proprietary products or processes, and secure sufficient capital resources for the lengthy period between technological conception and commercial sale.
Intellectual Property Rights
We generally seek patent protection in the US and in select international countries to protect inventions that we or our partners consider important for our business interests. Patent protection in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals is uncertain and involved complex legal and factual questions, and we may be unable to protect and/or enforce our intellectual property. Our success will depend, in part, on whether we can:
•obtain and maintain patents to protect our own technologies, products, and product candidates;
•obtain and maintain licenses to use the technologies of third-parties, which may be protected by patents; and
•protect and maintain our trade secrets and know-how.
Patent Rights; Licenses
We have intellectual property (patents, licenses, know-how) related to our vaccines, manufacturing processes, and other technologies. Currently, we have or have rights to over 830 U.S. and foreign patents and patent applications relating to vaccines and vaccine-related technologies, including:
•RSV: We have more than 200 combined patents and pending applications in the US and internationally relating to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) glycoproteins, compositions, and methods of treatment. These patents will expire from 2029 to beyond 2041.
•Clostridium Difficile: We have more than 20 combined patents and pending applications in the US and internationally relating to methods and compositions for treating or preventing C. Difficile infection. These patents will expire from 2038 to beyond 2039.
•Influenza: We currently have 27 U.S. patents and pending US and international applications related to multivalent influenza compositions. These patents are anticipated to expire in 2039 and beyond
•COVID/Influenza: We have more than 40 combined patents and pending applications in the US and internationally related to compositions and methods for inducing immune responses against both influenza and coronaviruses that will expire beyond 2042 when issued.
•COVID-19: We currently have more than 50 combined patents and pending applications directed to our COVID vaccine technology that are anticipated to expire beyond 2040.
In addition to protecting our vaccine programs, we are pursuing further protections for our Matrix-MTM Adjuvant program, with expiration dates potentially extending to 2044 and beyond.
We continue to prepare, file, and prosecute patent applications to provide broad and strong protection of our proprietary rights related to our vaccine products and our adjuvant program.
The Federal Technology Transfer Act of 1986 and related statutory guidance encourages the dissemination of science and technology innovation. While our expired contract with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“DHHS”),
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Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority provided us with the right to retain ownership in our inventions that may have arisen during performance of that contract, with respect to certain other collaborative research efforts with the U.S. government, certain developments and results that may have commercial potential are to be freely published, not treated as confidential, and we may be required to negotiate a license to developments and results in order to commercialize products. There can be no assurance that we will be able to successfully obtain any such license at a reasonable cost, or that such development and results will not be made available to our competitors on an exclusive or non-exclusive basis.
Trade Secrets
We also rely significantly on trade secret protection and confidentiality agreements to protect our interests. It is our policy to require employees, consultants, contractors, manufacturers, collaborators, and other advisors to execute confidentiality agreements upon the commencement of employment, consulting, or collaborative relationships with us. We also require confidentiality agreements from any entity that is to receive confidential information from us. With respect to employees, consultants, and contractors, the agreements generally provide that all inventions made by the individual while rendering services to us shall be assigned to us as our property. In any of the above mentioned scenarios, we require trade secrets be protected in perpetuity, or until certain exceptions arise.
Human Capital
Employees
We have a team of approximately 749 employees as of December 31, 2025. Our highly qualified and experienced team, which includes scientists, physicians, and professionals across research, development, manufacturing activities, executive, business development, commercial, finance and accounting, legal, and administrative functions and other essential functions is critical to our success. We also leverage temporary workers to provide flexibility for our business needs. We continually evaluate our business needs and opportunities and balance in-house with external expertise and capacity.
Compensation and Benefits; Health and Wellness
Our total rewards package is designed to attract, engage, motivate, and retain top talent. We strive to provide compensation, benefits and services that help meet the varying needs of our employees. Our total rewards package for employees in the U.S. includes competitive market pay and comprehensive benefits, including insurance to protect and maintain health; income protection through our short- and long-term disability programs and life insurance; adoption assistance and paid parental leave programs; and services to assist in balancing work and personal life, such as backup child, adult and elder care, and financial well-being programs, including monthly financial wellness seminars, one-on-one financial planning sessions, and debt and credit management support.
Our wellness initiatives include a monthly newsletter, which highlights organizations and partners, tools, and resources intended to enrich and improve our employees’ physical and mental well-being. We offer several digital apps that allow our employees to connect to an online licensed therapist or to access activities that are designed to reduce stress and anxiety and increase mindfulness and emotional well-being. We have a robust employee assistance program that allows employees to access support for a variety of life events.
In addition, we offer the majority of employees the benefit of equity ownership in the Company through equity grants or participation in our employee stock purchase plan. We believe that equity compensation has been, and will continue to be, a critical component of our compensation package because it develops a culture of ownership among our employees and aligns their interests with the interests of our stockholders.
Recruitment, Development, and Training
The attraction, development, and retention of employees is a critical factor for our success. We utilize a variety of recruitment vehicles to source top talent, including strategic partnerships with search firms, leveraging social media channels, and a robust employee referral program. Our Leading@Novavax competency model defines great leadership. At Novavax, everyone is leader, and this model and associated tools, resources, and programs are designed to develop leadership skills at all levels of the organization.
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To support the growth and advancement of our employees, we offer tuition and continuing education reimbursement as well as a wide range of training and professional development opportunities, including executive coaching engagements and access to the LinkedIn Learning library of over 16,000 on‐demand video tutorials covering skills, knowledge, and behaviors related to business, leadership, technology, and innovation. In the last 12 months, our employees have viewed and completed videos over 20,000 times. In addition, approximately 35 employees have participated in spot coaching. Professional development learning series are available to all employees and focus on self-awareness, collaboration, hybrid working, leadership and business acumen.
We also offer a company‐wide mentoring program that enables employees to connect with colleagues across functions, build professional networks, and support their development through mentoring relationships.
We provide an Executive Development Program for employees identified as having high potential and for employees who have been identified as potential successors to leadership positions through our talent review and succession planning process. Our Executive Development Program includes executive coaching engagements and leadership development programs designed to strengthen our leadership bench and accelerate and prepare our top talent for future growth. The Executive Development Program includes a diverse and global group of 20 employees annually. Professional development learning series are available to all employees and focus on self-awareness, collaboration, hybrid working, leadership, and business acumen.
Our Commitment to Sustainability
We focus our sustainability impact on four strategic pillars, which guide our efforts to make a positive impact on global health and operate in a sustainable and inclusive manner.
•GOVERNANCE | Meeting our high standards of governance.
•ENVIRONMENT | Mitigating our environmental impact.
•SOCIAL | Creating a culture that can hire and retain the best employees.
•ACCESS | Maximizing access to our products to improve global health.
Governance
We are committed to operating with integrity, transparency and accountability in all that we do.
•Our policies remain in place so that we may comply with all government and regulatory agency requirements and industry standards with good laboratory practices, current good manufacturing practices and good distribution practices.
•Our pharmacovigilance system supports comprehensive safety monitoring and signal detection for products and clinical programs.
•Our Quality Management System supports compliance with national and international reporting requirements and special reporting obligations.
•Our employees and contractors must complete adverse event (“AE”) training and understand how to report AEs.
•We collect, evaluate and report AEs in line with mandates from worldwide health authorities (e.g., the U.S. FDA, European Medicines Agency).
•We practice responsible animal welfare practices including searching for non-animal alternatives whenever possible, abiding by the 3R-principle (Reduce, Refine, Replace), and working with accredited animal facilities with regional independent animal experimentation ethical review boards approving all experiments.
•We maintain “The NovaCode,” a robust handbook of written standards and business ethics policies.
•We maintain a global hotline for reporting compliance concerns with established internal investigation protocols.
•We maintain a Strategic Compliance Governance Committee to help our partners comply with U.S. regulations.
•We hold company-wide business ethics training, guidance and raw materials review.
•We maintain an anti-bribery and anti-corruption policy to foster a transparent and ethical business model.
•We abide by robust cybersecurity standards.
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•We maintain an ongoing employee training on our Safety Policy.
Environment
We aim to operate in a sustainable manner that reduces our environmental impact.
•We are committed to engaging with material sustainability topics to drive long-term value creation and positive societal impact.
•We align our efforts with the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (“SASB”), Global Reporting Initiative (“GRI”) and Sweden Non-Financial Reporting Directive (“NFRD”) frameworks to provide that our sustainability reporting accurately reflects the most pertinent topics within the biotechnology industry.
•We disclose greenhouse gas emissions globally.
•We abide by and require our suppliers to abide by our Novavax Environmental Sustainability Policy and Novavax Human Rights Policy.
Social
We seek to build a company and culture that attracts and retains the best talent.
•We offer a number of employee training opportunities.
•We maintain employee health and safety measures, including U.S. Environmental Health and Safety (“EHS”) management system as well as Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”)-required assessments and immunizations.
•We offer a number of employee well-being, satisfaction, charitable and financial benefit programs.
Access
We innovate through R&D and seek to increase access to our products and technology through strategic collaborations.
•R21/Matrix-MTM malaria vaccine offered by Oxford University and Serum Institute of India.
•Nuvaxovid® COVID-19 Vaccine offered by Sanofi.
•We also work to ensure that the products we develop are safe and effective for people of all races, ethnicities and genders. We have adopt the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and abide by our Clinical Research Policy.
Government Regulations
The FDA and other regulatory authorities at federal, state, and local levels, as well as in foreign countries, extensively regulate, among other things, the research, development, testing, manufacture, quality control, import, export, safety, effectiveness, labeling, packaging, storage, distribution, record keeping, approval, advertising, promotion, marketing, post-approval monitoring, and post-approval reporting of vaccines such as those we are developing. We, along with third-party contractors, will be required to navigate the various preclinical, clinical and commercial approval requirements of the regulatory agencies of the countries in which we wish to conduct studies or seek approval or licensure of our vaccine candidates. The process of obtaining regulatory approvals and the subsequent compliance with applicable federal, state, local and foreign statutes and regulations require the expenditure of substantial time and financial resources.
U.S. Biologics Regulation
In the United States, biological products, or biologics, such as vaccines are subject to regulation under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the Public Health Service Act, and other federal, state, local and foreign statutes and regulations. The process required by the FDA before biologics may be marketed in the United States generally involves the following:
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•completion of preclinical laboratory tests and animal studies performed in accordance with the FDA’s Good Laboratory Practice requirements (“GLPs”);
•submission to the FDA of an investigational new drug application (“IND”), which must become effective before clinical trials may begin;
•approval by an institutional review board (“IRB”) or ethics committee at each clinical site before the trial is commenced;
•performance of adequate and well-controlled human clinical trials to establish the safety, purity and potency of the proposed biologic candidate for its intended use;
•preparation of and submission to the FDA of a biologics license application (BLA), after completion of all pivotal clinical trials and other necessary studies;
•satisfactory completion of an FDA Advisory Committee review, if applicable;
•a determination by the FDA within 60 days of its receipt of a BLA to file the application for review;
•satisfactory completion of an FDA pre-approval inspection of the manufacturing facility or facilities at which the proposed product is produced to assess compliance with cGMP, and to assure that the facilities, methods and controls are adequate to preserve the biological product’s continued safety, purity and potency, and of selected clinical investigation sites to assess compliance with Good Clinical Practice requirements (GCPs); and
•FDA review and approval of the BLA to permit commercial marketing of the product for particular indications for use in the United States.
The preclinical developmental stage generally involves laboratory evaluations of chemistry, formulation and stability, as well as studies to evaluate the candidate’s toxicity in animals, in an effort to support subsequent clinical testing. The conduct of preclinical studies is subject to federal regulations and requirements, including GLP regulations.
Prior to beginning the first clinical trial with a vaccine candidate in the United States, the trial sponsor must submit an IND to the FDA. An IND is a request for allowance from the FDA to administer an investigational drug to humans. The central focus of an IND submission is on the general investigational plan and the protocol(s) for clinical studies. The IND also includes results of animal and in vitro studies assessing the toxicology, pharmacokinetics, pharmacology, and pharmacodynamic characteristics of the vaccine candidate, chemistry, manufacturing, and controls information, and any available human data or literature to support the use of the vaccine candidate. An IND must become effective before human clinical trials may begin. The IND automatically becomes effective 30 days after receipt by the FDA, unless the FDA, within the 30-day time period, raises safety concerns or questions about the proposed clinical trial. In such a case, the IND may be placed on full or partial clinical hold and the IND sponsor and the FDA must resolve any outstanding concerns or questions before the clinical trial can begin or begin as planned. Submission of an IND therefore may or may not result in FDA allowance to begin a clinical trial.
Clinical trials involve the administration of the investigational product to human subjects under the supervision of qualified investigators, generally physicians not employed by or under the trial sponsor’s control, in accordance with GCPs, which include, among other things, the requirement that all research subjects provide their informed consent for their participation in any clinical study. Clinical trials are conducted under protocols detailing, among other things, the objectives of the study, the parameters to be used in monitoring subject safety and the effectiveness criteria to be evaluated. A separate submission to the existing IND must be made for each successive clinical trial conducted during product development and for any subsequent protocol amendments. While the IND is active, progress reports summarizing the results of the clinical trials and nonclinical studies performed since the last progress report, among other information, must be submitted at least annually to the FDA, and written IND safety reports must be submitted to the FDA and investigators for serious and unexpected suspected adverse events, findings from other studies suggesting a significant risk to humans exposed to the same or similar drugs, findings from animal or in vitro testing suggesting a significant risk to humans, and any clinically important increased incidence of a serious suspected adverse reaction compared to that listed in the protocol or investigator brochure.
Furthermore, an independent IRB for each site proposing to conduct the clinical trial must review and approve the plan for any clinical trial and its informed consent form before the clinical trial begins at that site, and must monitor the study until completed. Regulatory authorities, the IRB or the sponsor may suspend a clinical trial at any time on various grounds, including a finding that the subjects are being exposed to an unacceptable health risk or that the trial is unlikely to meet its stated objectives. Some studies also include oversight by an independent group of qualified experts organized by the clinical study sponsor, known as a data safety monitoring board, which provides authorization for whether or not a study may move forward
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at designated check points based on access to certain data from the study, and may halt the clinical trial if it determines that there is an unacceptable safety risk for subjects or on other grounds, such as failure to demonstrate efficacy. There are also requirements governing the reporting of ongoing clinical studies and clinical study results to public registries, including clinicaltrials.gov.
For purposes of BLA approval, human clinical trials are typically conducted in three sequential phases that may overlap or be combined:
•Phase 1—The investigational product is initially introduced into healthy human subjects or patients with the target disease or condition. These studies are designed to test the safety, dosage tolerance, absorption, metabolism and distribution of the investigational product in humans, the side effects associated with increasing doses, and, if possible, to gain early evidence on effectiveness.
•Phase 2—The investigational product is administered to a limited patient population with a specified disease or condition to evaluate the preliminary efficacy, optimal dosages and dosing schedule and to identify possible adverse side effects and safety risks. Multiple Phase 2 clinical trials may be conducted to obtain information prior to beginning larger and more expensive Phase 3 clinical trials.
•Phase 3—The investigational product is administered to an expanded patient population to further evaluate dosage, to provide substantial evidence of clinical efficacy and to further test for safety, generally at multiple geographically dispersed clinical trial sites. These clinical trials are intended to establish the overall risk/benefit ratio of the investigational product and to provide an adequate basis for product approval.
In some cases, the FDA may require, or sponsors may voluntarily pursue, additional clinical trials after a product is approved to gain more information about the product. These so-called Phase 4 studies may also be made a condition to approval of the BLA.
Concurrent with clinical trials, companies may complete additional animal studies and develop additional information about the biological characteristics of the vaccine candidate, and must finalize a process for manufacturing the product in commercial quantities in accordance with cGMP requirements. The manufacturing process must be capable of consistently producing quality batches of the vaccine candidate and, among other things, must develop methods for testing the identity, strength, quality and purity of the final product. Additionally, appropriate packaging must be selected and tested and stability studies must be conducted to demonstrate that the candidate does not undergo unacceptable deterioration over its shelf life.
BLA submission and review by the FDA
Assuming successful completion of all required testing in accordance with all applicable regulatory requirements, the results of product development, preclinical studies and clinical trials are submitted to the FDA as part of a BLA requesting approval to market the product candidate for one or more indications. The BLA must include all relevant data available from preclinical and clinical studies, including negative or ambiguous results as well as positive findings, together with detailed information relating to the product’s chemistry, manufacturing, controls, and proposed labeling, among other things. Data can come from company-sponsored clinical studies intended to test the safety and effectiveness of a use of the product candidate, or from a number of alternative sources, including studies initiated by independent investigators. The submission of a BLA requires payment of a substantial application user fee to the FDA, unless a waiver or exemption applies.
In addition, the Pediatric Research Equity Act (“PREA”), requires a sponsor to conduct pediatric clinical trials for most drugs and biologics, for a new active ingredient, new indication, new dosage form, new dosing regimen or new route of administration. Under PREA, original BLAs and certain supplements must contain a pediatric assessment unless the sponsor has received a deferral or waiver. The required assessment must evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the product for the claimed indications in all relevant pediatric subpopulations and support dosing and administration for each pediatric subpopulation for which the product is deemed safe and effective. The sponsor or FDA may request a deferral of pediatric clinical trials for some or all of the pediatric subpopulations. A deferral may be granted for several reasons, including a finding that the candidate is ready for approval for use in adults before pediatric clinical trials are complete or that additional safety or effectiveness data needs to be collected before the pediatric clinical trials begin. The FDA must send a non-compliance letter to any sponsor that fails to submit the required assessment, keep a deferral current or fails to submit a request for approval of a pediatric formulation.
Within 60 days following submission of the application, the FDA reviews a BLA submitted to determine if it is substantially complete before the FDA accepts it for filing. The FDA may refuse to file any BLA that it deems incomplete or
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not properly reviewable at the time of submission and may request additional information. In this event, the BLA must be resubmitted with the additional information. Once a BLA has been accepted for filing, the FDA’s goal is to review standard applications within ten months after the filing date, or, if the application qualifies for priority review, six months after the FDA accepts the application for filing. In both standard and priority reviews, the review process may also be extended by FDA requests for additional information or clarification. The FDA reviews a BLA to determine, among other things, whether the vaccine candidate is safe, pure and potent for the proposed indication, and the facility in which it is manufactured, processed, packed or held meets standards designed to assure the product’s continued safety, purity and potency. The FDA may also convene an advisory committee to provide clinical insight on application review questions. The FDA is not bound by the recommendations of an advisory committee, but it considers such recommendations carefully when making decisions.
Before approving a BLA, the FDA will typically inspect the facility or facilities where the product is manufactured. The FDA will not approve an application unless it determines that the manufacturing processes and facilities are in compliance with cGMP and adequate to assure consistent production of the product within required specifications. Additionally, before approving a BLA, the FDA will typically inspect one or more clinical sites to assure compliance with GCP. If the FDA determines that the application, manufacturing process or manufacturing facilities are not acceptable, it will outline the deficiencies in the submission and often will request additional testing or information.
After the FDA evaluates a BLA and conducts inspections of manufacturing facilities where the investigational product and/or its drug substance will be produced, the FDA may issue an approval letter or a Complete Response Letter (“CRL”). An approval letter authorizes commercial marketing of the product with specific prescribing information for specific indications. A CRL indicates that the review cycle of the application is complete, and the application will not be approved in its present form. A CRL usually describes the specific deficiencies in the BLA identified by the FDA and may require additional clinical data, including additional clinical trials, or other significant and time-consuming requirements related to clinical trials, nonclinical studies or manufacturing. If a CRL is issued, the sponsor must resubmit the BLA or, addressing all of the deficiencies identified in the letter, or withdraw the application. Even if such data and information are submitted, the FDA may decide that the BLA does not satisfy the criteria for approval.
If regulatory approval of a product is granted, such approval will be granted for particular indications and may include limitations on the indicated uses for which such product may be marketed. For example, the FDA may approve the BLA with a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (“REMS”), to ensure the benefits of the product outweigh its risks. A REMS is a safety strategy implemented to manage a known or potential serious risk associated with a product and to enable patients to have continued access to such medicines by managing their safe use, and could include medication guides, physician communication plans, or elements to assure safe use, such as restricted distribution methods, patient registries and other risk minimization tools. The FDA also may condition approval on, among other things, changes to proposed labeling or the development of adequate controls and specifications. The FDA may also require one or more Phase 4 post-market studies and surveillance to further assess and monitor the product’s safety, purity and potency after commercialization, and may limit further marketing of the product based on the results of these post-marketing studies.
Expedited development and review programs
The FDA offers a number of expedited development and review programs for qualifying product candidates. For example, the fast track program is intended to expedite or facilitate the process for reviewing product candidates that are intended to treat a serious or life-threatening disease or condition and demonstrate the potential to address unmet medical needs for the disease or condition. Fast track designation applies to the combination of the product candidate and the specific indication for which it is being studied. The sponsor of a fast track product candidate has opportunities for more frequent interactions with the applicable FDA review team during product development and, once a BLA is submitted, the product application may be eligible for priority review. A fast track product candidate may also be eligible for rolling review, where the FDA may consider for review sections of the BLA on a rolling basis before the complete application is submitted, if the sponsor provides a schedule for the submission of the sections of the BLA, the FDA agrees to accept sections of the BLA and determines that the schedule is acceptable, and the sponsor pays any required user fees upon submission of the first section of the BLA.
A product candidate intended to treat a serious or life-threatening disease or condition may also be eligible for breakthrough therapy designation to expedite its development and review. A product candidate can receive breakthrough therapy designation if preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the product candidate, alone or in combination with one or more other drugs or biologics, may demonstrate substantial improvement over existing therapies on one or more clinically significant endpoints, such as substantial treatment effects observed early in clinical development. The designation includes all of the fast track program features, as well as more intensive FDA interaction and guidance beginning as early as Phase 1 and an
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organizational commitment to expedite the development and review of the product candidate, including involvement of senior managers.
Any marketing application for a biologic product candidate submitted to the FDA for approval, including a product candidate with a fast track designation and/or breakthrough therapy designation, may be eligible for other types of FDA programs intended to expedite the FDA review and approval process, such as priority review. A BLA is eligible for priority review if the product candidate is designed to treat a serious or life-threatening disease or condition, and if approved, would provide a significant improvement in safety or effectiveness compared to available alternatives for such disease or condition. For original BLAs, priority review designation means the FDA’s goal is to take action on the marketing application within six months of the 60-day filing date (as compared to ten months under standard review).
Additionally, depending on the design of the applicable clinical trials, candidates studied for their safety and effectiveness in treating serious or life-threatening diseases or conditions may receive accelerated approval upon a determination that the candidate has an effect on a surrogate endpoint that is reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit, or on a clinical endpoint that can be measured earlier than irreversible morbidity or mortality, that is reasonably likely to predict an effect on irreversible morbidity or mortality or other clinical benefit, taking into account the severity, rarity, or prevalence of the condition and the availability or lack of alternative treatments. As a condition of accelerated approval, the FDA will generally require the sponsor to perform adequate and well-controlled post-marketing clinical studies to verify and describe the anticipated effect on irreversible morbidity or mortality or other clinical benefit, and may require that such studies be underway before granting any accelerated approval. Products receiving accelerated approval may be subject to expedited withdrawal procedures if the sponsor fails to conduct the required post-marketing studies or if such studies fail to verify the predicted clinical benefit. In addition, the FDA requires as a condition for accelerated approval pre-approval of promotional materials, which could adversely impact the timing of the commercial launch of the product.
Fast track designation, breakthrough therapy designation, priority review, and accelerated approval do not change the standards for approval but may expedite the development or approval process. Even if a candidate qualifies for one or more of these programs, the FDA may later decide that the product no longer meets the conditions for qualification or decide that the time period for FDA review or approval will not be shortened.
Post-approval requirements
Biologics are subject to pervasive and continuing regulation by the FDA, including, among other things, requirements relating to record-keeping, reporting of adverse experiences, periodic reporting, product sampling and distribution, and advertising and promotion of the product. After approval, most changes to the approved product, such as adding new indications or other labeling claims, are subject to prior FDA review and approval. There also are continuing, annual program fees for any marketed products. Biologic manufacturers and their subcontractors are required to register their establishments with the FDA and certain state agencies, and are subject to periodic unannounced inspections by the FDA and certain state agencies for compliance with cGMP, which impose certain procedural and documentation requirements up. Changes to the manufacturing process are strictly regulated, and, depending on the significance of the change, may require prior FDA approval before being implemented. FDA regulations also require investigation and correction of any deviations from cGMP and impose reporting requirements. Accordingly, manufacturers must continue to expend time, money and effort in the area of production and quality control to maintain compliance with cGMP and other aspects of regulatory compliance.
The FDA may withdraw approval if compliance with regulatory requirements and standards is not maintained or if problems occur after the product reaches the market. Later discovery of previously unknown problems with a product, including adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency, or with manufacturing processes, or failure to comply with regulatory requirements, may result in revisions to the approved labeling to add new safety information; imposition of post-market studies or clinical studies to assess new safety risks; or imposition of distribution restrictions or other restrictions under a REMS program. Other potential consequences include, among other things:
•restrictions on the marketing or manufacturing of the product, complete withdrawal of the product from the market or product recalls;
•fines, warning letters, or untitled letters;
•clinical holds on clinical studies;
•refusal of the FDA to approve pending applications or supplements to approved applications, or suspension or revocation of product license approvals;
•product seizure or detention, or refusal to permit the import or export of products;
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•consent decrees, corporate integrity agreements, debarment or exclusion from federal healthcare programs;
•mandated modification of promotional materials and labeling and the issuance of corrective information;
•the issuance of safety alerts, Dear Healthcare Provider letters, press releases and other communications containing warnings or other safety information about the product; or
•injunctions or the imposition of civil or criminal penalties.
The FDA closely regulates the marketing, labeling, advertising and promotion of biologics. A company can make only those claims that are in accordance with the provisions of the approved label. The FDA and other agencies actively enforce the laws and regulations prohibiting the promotion of off-label uses. Failure to comply with these requirements can result in, among other things, adverse publicity, warning letters, corrective advertising and potential civil and criminal penalties. Physicians may prescribe legally available products for uses that are not described in the product’s labeling and that differ from those tested and approved by the FDA. Such off-label uses are common across medical specialties. Physicians may believe that such off-label uses are the best treatment for many patients in varied circumstances. The FDA does not regulate the behavior of physicians in their choice of treatments. The FDA does, however, restrict a manufacturer’s communications on the subject of off-label use of their products.
Biosimilars and reference product exclusivity
The Affordable Care Act, signed into law in 2010, includes a subtitle called the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (“BPCIA”), which created an abbreviated approval pathway for biological products that are biosimilar to or interchangeable with an FDA-licensed reference biological product.
Biosimilarity, which requires that the biological product be highly similar to the reference product notwithstanding minor differences in clinically inactive components and that there be no clinically meaningful differences between the biological product and the reference product in terms of safety, purity, and potency, can be shown through analytical studies, animal studies, and a clinical study or studies. Interchangeability requires that a product is biosimilar to the reference product and the product can be expected to produce the same clinical results as the reference product in any given patient and, for products that are administered multiple times to an individual, the biologic and the reference biologic may be alternated or switched after one has been previously administered without increasing safety risks or risks of diminished efficacy relative to exclusive use of the reference biologic.
Under the BPCIA, an application for a biosimilar product may not be submitted to the FDA until four years following the date that the reference product was first licensed by the FDA. In addition, the approval of a biosimilar product may not be made effective by the FDA until 12 years from the date on which the reference product was first licensed. During this 12-year period of exclusivity, another company may still market a competing version of the reference product if the FDA approves a full BLA for the competing product containing that applicant’s own preclinical data and data from adequate and well-controlled clinical trials to demonstrate the safety, purity and potency of its product. The BPCIA also created certain exclusivity periods for biosimilars approved as interchangeable products.
A biological product can also obtain pediatric market exclusivity in the United States. Pediatric exclusivity, if granted, adds six months to existing exclusivity periods and patent terms. This six-month exclusivity, which runs from the end of all existing exclusivity protection or patent terms, may be granted based on the voluntary completion of a pediatric study in accordance with an FDA-issued “Written Request” for such a study.
Coverage and Reimbursement
In both domestic and foreign markets, sales of any products for which we receive regulatory approval for commercial sale will depend in part on the availability of reimbursement from third-party payers. Third-party payers include government authorities or programs, private health insurers (including managed care plans), and other organizations. These third-party payers are increasingly challenging the price and examining the cost-effectiveness of medical products and services. In addition, significant uncertainty exists as to the reimbursement status of newly approved healthcare products. We may need to conduct expensive pharmacoeconomic studies in order to demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of our products. There may be significant delays in obtaining coverage and reimbursement for newly approved drugs, and coverage may be more limited than the indications for which the product is approved by the U.S. FDA or similar regulatory authorities outside the United States. Our product candidates may not be considered cost-effective at certain prices. Adequate third-party reimbursement may not be available in certain markets to enable us to maintain price levels sufficient to realize an appropriate return on our investment in product development. Third-party payors may also control access to, or manage utilization of, our products with various
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utilization management techniques. Decreases in third-party reimbursement for our product candidates or a decision by a third-party payer to not cover our product candidates could reduce physician utilization of our products and have a material adverse effect on our sales, results of operations, and financial condition.
Within the U.S., if we obtain appropriate approval in the future to market any of our product candidates, those products could potentially be covered by various government health benefit programs, as well as purchased by government agencies. The participation in such programs or the sale of products to such agencies is subject to regulation. In exchange for coverage, we may be obligated to provide rebates or offer discounts under government health programs or to government and private purchasers. Certain Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (collectively, the “ACA”) marketplace and other private payor plans are required to include coverage for certain preventative services, including vaccinations recommended by the ACIP without cost share obligations (i.e., co-payments, deductibles or co-insurance) for plan members. For Medicare beneficiaries, vaccines may be covered under either the Part B program or Part D depending on several criteria, including the type of vaccine and the beneficiary’s coverage eligibility. Medicare Part B vaccine coverage includes vaccines to prevent influenza, pneumococcal disease, hepatitis B for beneficiaries who are at medium or high risk, and COVID-19. Vaccines for such conditions do not have any cost-sharing requirements. Effective January 1, 2023, the Inflation Reducation Act (“IRA”) modified the legal requirements to provides access to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”) and ACIP-recommended vaccines covered under Medicare Part D, Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (“CHIP”) without cost-sharing. At the state level, payment rates for covered vaccines and their administration are set by the states or their contracted managed care plans. Children through 18 years of age without health insurance coverage for vaccines may also be eligible to receive such vaccinations free-of-charge through the CDC’s Vaccines for Children program (“VFC”).
Further, no uniform policy for coverage and reimbursement exists in the United States, and coverage and reimbursement can differ significantly from payor to payor. Third-party payors often rely upon Medicare coverage policy and payment limitations in setting their own reimbursement rates, but also have their own methods and approval process apart from Medicare determinations. As such, one third-party payor’s decision to cover a particular medical product or service does not ensure that other payors will also provide coverage for the medical product or service or will provide coverage at an adequate reimbursement rate. Further, coverage policies and third party reimbursement rates may change at any time. Even if favorable coverage and reimbursement status is attained for one or more products that receives regulatory approval, less favorable coverage policies and reimbursement rates may be implemented in the future.
Healthcare Reform
The U.S. and state governments continue to propose and pass legislation designed to reform delivery of, or payment for, health care, including initiatives to reduce the cost of healthcare. In March 2010, the U.S. Congress enacted the ACA, which included changes to the coverage and reimbursement of drug products under government health care programs. Since its enactment, there have been several executive, judicial and Congressional challenges to certain aspects of the ACA, and additional challenges and amendments to the ACA may reduce the profitability of drug products. Adoption of price controls and cost-containment measures and adoption of more restrictive policies in jurisdictions with existing controls and measures could further limit our net revenue and results. Other legislative changes have been proposed and adopted in the United States since the ACA was enacted that impact drug pricing. For example, through the process created by the Budget Control Act of 2011, there are automatic reductions of Medicare payments to providers, which went into effect in April 2013 and will remain in effect through 2032.
In addition, the current Presidential administration’s policies have resulted in changes to vaccine mandates and recommendations and public perception of vaccine importance. Because recommendations by the ACIP of a vaccine has significant impacts on the coverage and reimbursement of the vaccine from commercial and governmental payers, changes to the composition of the committee could, among other things, result in adverse recommendations from ACIP or delay ACIP decisions or other elements of the approval pathway, potentially adversely impacting vaccine availability and recommendations. By way of example, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“DHHS”) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. populated ACIP with members who generally have voiced negative views regarding COVID-19 vaccines. The CDC removed the COVID-19 vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant women from the CDC recommended immunization schedules, and the DHHS Secretarial Directives ratifying CDC recommendations for use of COVID-19 vaccines for children ages six months to 17 years were also rescinded. The FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee makes recommendations to FDA regarding novel vaccine products, and the Trump administration has so far removed at least one member from the committee.The Trump administration’s changes to the immunization schedule for children and adolescents
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and vaccine recommendations to date, and similar changes that could be adopted in the future could have a material adverse effect on the industry.
There has been considerable public and government scrutiny in the U.S. of pharmaceutical pricing and proposals to address the perceived high cost of pharmaceuticals. There have also been several recent state legislative efforts to address drug costs, which generally have focused on increasing transparency around drug costs or limiting drug prices or price increases. Adoption of new legislation at the federal or state level could affect demand for, or pricing of, our product candidates if approved for sale. We cannot predict the ultimate content, timing, or effect of any federal and state reform efforts. There is no assurance that federal or state health care reform will not adversely affect our future business and financial results.
Similarly, in many countries outside the U.S., pharmaceutical pricing is subject to regulatory market access control, particularly in countries where healthcare is provided mainly through government funding or government backed insurers. In such countries governmental organizations will generally determine firstly if a medicinal product might be adopted for use in the national health systems and reimbursed and secondly the maximum price payable.
Other Healthcare Laws
In addition to FDA restrictions on marketing of pharmaceutical and biological products, other healthcare regulatory laws restrict business practices in the biotechnology industry, which include, but are not limited to, anti-kickback, false claims, and transparency laws regarding drug pricing and payments and other transfers of value made to physicians and other healthcare providers.
The federal Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits the offer, receipt, or payment of remuneration in exchange for or to induce the referral of patients or the use of products or services that would be paid for in whole or part by Medicare, Medicaid or other federal healthcare programs. Remuneration has been broadly interpreted to include anything of value, including cash, improper discounts and free or reduced-price items and services. Further, a person or entity does not need to have actual knowledge of the statute or specific intent to violate it to have committed a violation. Many states have similar laws that apply to their state healthcare programs as well as private payors.
The False Claims Act, or FCA, imposes liability on persons who, among other things, knowingly present or cause to be presented, a false, fictitious or fraudulent claim for payment to, or approval by, the federal government, knowingly make, use, or cause to be made or used a false record or statement material to a false or fraudulent claim to the federal government, or knowingly make a false statement to avoid, decrease or conceal an obligation to pay money to the U.S. federal government. The FCA has been used to prosecute persons submitting claims for payment that are inaccurate or fraudulent, that are for services not provided as claimed, or for services that are not medically necessary. In addition, the government may assert that a claim including items or services resulting from a violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute constitutes a false or fraudulent claim for purposes of the False Claims Act. Actions under the FCA may be brought by the Attorney General or as a qui tam action by a private individual in the name of the government. The federal government is using the FCA, and the accompanying threat of significant liability, in its investigation and prosecution of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies throughout the country, and has obtained multi-million and multi–billion-dollar settlements under the FCA in addition to individual criminal convictions under applicable criminal statutes. In addition, companies have been forced to implement extensive corrective action plans and have often become subject to consent decrees or corporate integrity agreements, severely restricting the manner in which they conduct their business. Given the significant size of actual and potential settlements, it is expected that the government authorities will continue to devote substantial resources to investigating healthcare providers’ and manufacturers’ compliance with applicable fraud and abuse laws.
In addition, a person who offers or transfers to a Medicare or Medicaid beneficiary any remuneration, including waivers of co-payments and deductible amounts (or any part thereof), that the person knows or should know is likely to influence the beneficiary’s selection of a particular provider, practitioner or supplier of Medicare or Medicaid payable items or services may be liable for civil monetary penalties for each wrongful act. Moreover, in certain cases, providers who routinely waive copayments and deductibles for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries can also be held liable under the Anti-Kickback Statute and civil False Claims Act, which can impose additional penalties associated with the wrongful act. One of the statutory exceptions to the prohibition is non-routine, unadvertised waivers of copayments or deductible amounts based on individualized determinations of financial need or exhaustion of reasonable collection efforts. The Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services emphasizes, however, that this exception should only be used occasionally to address special financial needs of a particular patient. Although this prohibition applies only to federal healthcare program beneficiaries, the routine waivers of copayments and deductibles offered to patients covered by commercial payers may
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implicate applicable state laws related to, among other things, unlawful schemes to defraud, excessive fees for services, tortious interference with patient contracts and statutory or common law fraud.
The federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, created additional federal criminal statutes that prohibit, among other actions, knowingly and willfully executing, or attempting to execute, a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit program, including private third-party payors, knowingly and willfully embezzling or stealing from a healthcare benefit program, willfully obstructing a criminal investigation of a healthcare offense, and knowingly and willfully falsifying, concealing or covering up a material fact or making any materially false, fictitious or fraudulent statement in connection with the delivery of or payment for healthcare benefits, items or services. Similar to the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, a person or entity does not need to have actual knowledge of the statute or specific intent to violate it in order to have committed a violation.
In addition, there has been a recent trend of increased federal and state regulation of payments made to physicians and other healthcare providers. The ACA, among other things, imposed new reporting requirements through the Physician Payments Sunshine Act on certain manufacturers of drugs covered by a federal healthcare program for payments made by them to physicians (defined to include doctors, dentists, optometrists, podiatrists and chiropractors), certain non-physician practitioners (physician assistants, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, certified registered nurse anesthetists, anaesthesiology assistants, and certified nurse midwives)and teaching hospitals, as well as ownership and investment interests held by physicians and their immediate family members. Failure to submit required information may result in civil monetary penalties for all payments, transfers of value or ownership or investment interests that are not timely, accurately and completely reported in an annual submission. Manufacturers must submit reports by the 90th day of each calendar year. Certain states also mandate implementation of compliance programs, impose restrictions on drug manufacturer marketing practices and/or require the tracking and reporting of gifts, compensation and other remuneration to physicians, and pricing information and marketing expenditures.
The shifting commercial compliance environment and the need to build and maintain robust systems to comply with different compliance and/or reporting requirements in multiple jurisdictions increase the possibility that a healthcare company may violate one or more of the requirements. Violations of any of such laws or any other governmental regulations that apply to drug manufacturers may result in significant penalties, including, without limitation, administrative, civil and criminal penalties, damages, fines, disgorgement, the curtailment or restructuring of operations, exclusion from participation in federal and state healthcare programs, reporting obligations and integrity oversight, and imprisonment.
Within the EU and the UK, payments made to healthcare professionals are subject to public disclosure governed by either national statutory or non-statutory industry self-regulatory rules. Moreover, agreements with healthcare professionals and organizations must in some countries be the subject of prior notification and approval by healthcare professionals’ employer, their competent professional organization, or the regulatory authorities of the individual country. These requirements are provided in the national laws, industry codes, or professional codes of conduct, applicable in the EU member states. Failure to comply with these requirements could result in reputational risk, public reprimands, administrative penalties, fines, or imprisonment.
In addition, in the United States, the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (the “PREP Act”), when applicable, provides immunity for manufacturers from all claims under state or federal law for “loss” arising out of the administration or use of a “covered countermeasure.” However, injured persons may still bring a suit for “willful misconduct” against the manufacturer under some circumstances. “Covered countermeasures” include “security countermeasures,” “qualified pandemic or epidemic products,” which include products intended to diagnose or treat pandemic or epidemic disease, such as pandemic vaccines and treatments intended to address conditions caused by such products, and drugs and biological products authorized for emergency use in accordance with sections 564, 564A, and 564B of the FDCA. For these immunities to apply, the Secretary of DHHS must invoke the PREP Act by issuing a declaration that a public health emergency or “credible risk” of a future public health emergency exists. On March 17, 2020, the Secretary of DHHS issued a declaration under the PREP Act for medical countermeasures against COVID-19, effective as of February 4, 2020, and has issued subsequent amendments since then to provide liability immunity for activities related to certain countermeasures against the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. On December 11, 2024, the Secretary of DHHS issued the 12th amendment to the PREP Act declaration to extend time period of PREP Act coverage to December 31, 2029. While we believe our products are Covered Countermeasures under the current PREP Act declaration, coverage cannot be assured. Further, it remains possible that the HHS Secretary will amend the PREP Act declaration for medical countermeasures against COVID-19 to, among other things, shorten the duration of its coverage. Certain members of Congress have also sought to amend or repeal the PREP Act in effort to restrict or eliminate PREP Act immunity. As a result, the PREP Act remains subject to significant uncertainty.
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Availability of Information
Our website address is www.novavax.com. We make available, free of charge and through our website, our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and our other filings with the SEC, and any amendments to any such reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, as soon as reasonably practicable after filed with or furnished to the SEC. The SEC maintains an Internet site that contains reports, proxy, and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC at www.sec.gov.
We use our website (www.novavax.com) as a means of disclosing material non-public information and for complying with our disclosure obligations under Regulation Fair Disclosure promulgated by the SEC. These disclosures are included on our website (www.novavax.com) in the “Investors” or “News” sections. Accordingly, investors should monitor these portions of our website (www.novavax.com), in addition to following our press releases, SEC filings, and public conference calls and webcasts.
Also available on our website is information relating to corporate governance at Novavax and our Board of Directors, including our Code of Conduct. We intend to disclose on our website any future amendments to and waivers from this code that apply to our Chief Executive Officer, Principal Financial Officer, Principal Accounting Officer and Controller, and persons performing similar functions, as promptly as practicable, as may be required under applicable SEC and Nasdaq rules.
We webcast our earnings calls and certain events we participate in or host with members of the investment community on the investor relations section of our website. Additionally, we provide notifications of news or announcements regarding press and earnings releases as part of the investor relations section of our website. The contents of our website are not part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, or any other report we file with, or furnish to, the SEC.
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Item 1A. RISK FACTORS
You should carefully consider the following risk factors in evaluating our business. A number of risks could cause our actual results to differ materially from those that are indicated by forward-looking statements. Some risks relate principally to our business and the industry in which we operate. Others relate principally to the securities market and ownership of our common stock. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. Additional risks and uncertainties of which we are unaware, or that we currently deem immaterial, also may become important factors that affect us. Any of the following risks could result in material adverse impacts on our business, financial condition, or results of operations. You also should consider the other information included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K as well as our other filings with the SEC.
Summary of Risk Factors
Our business is subject to numerous risks. The following is a summary of the principal risk factors described in this section:
•We have a history of losses and our future profitability is uncertain.
•We will continue to require significant funding to maintain our current level of operations and fund the further development of our vaccine candidates.
•Our existing collaboration, funding and supply agreements, including the Sanofi CLA and our APAs, do not assure success of our vaccine candidates or vaccines or that we will be able to fully fund our vaccine candidates or vaccines or our operations, and if we are unable to satisfy the performance obligations under such agreements, we may not be eligible to receive milestone payments under such agreements, the agreements may be terminated, the purchase commitments may be reduced or we may be required to refund advance payments.
•Limitations on the use of our net operating losses and other tax attributes could adversely affect our financial condition.
•Because our vaccine product development and commercialization efforts depend on new and rapidly evolving technologies we cannot be certain that our efforts will be successful.
•Clinical and preclinical development involves a lengthy and expensive process with an uncertain outcome, and the results of prior clinical trials are not necessarily predictive of our future results.
•Any difficulties or delays in the commencement or completion, or the termination or suspension, of our current or planned clinical trials could result in increased costs to us, delay or limit our ability to generate revenue or adversely affect our commercial prospects.
•We may find it difficult to enroll subjects in our clinical trials. If we encounter difficulties enrolling subjects in our clinical trials, our clinical development activities could be delayed or otherwise adversely affected.
•Use of our vaccine candidates could be associated with adverse side effects, adverse events or other safety risks, which could delay or preclude approval, cause us to suspend or discontinue clinical trials, abandon a vaccine candidate, limit the commercial profile of an approved label or result in other significant negative consequences that could severely harm our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition.
•We are a biotechnology company and face significant risk in developing, manufacturing, and commercializing our products and vaccine candidates.
•We have limited marketing capabilities, and if we are unable to enter into collaborations with marketing partners or develop our own sales and marketing capability, we may not be successful in commercializing any approved products.
•Current or future regional relationships may hinder our ability to engage in larger transactions.
•We must identify vaccines for development with our technologies and establish successful third-party relationships.
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•We rely on third parties to conduct preclinical studies and clinical trials. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties, comply with applicable regulatory requirements or meet expected deadlines, our development programs and our ability to seek or obtain regulatory approval for or commercialize our vaccine candidates may be delayed.
•We currently rely on third parties for the manufacture of our vaccine candidates for clinical development and expect to continue to rely on third parties for the foreseeable future. This reliance on third parties increases the risk that we will not have sufficient quantities of our vaccine candidates or such quantities at an acceptable cost, which could delay, prevent or impair our development or potential commercialization efforts.
•Because we depend on third parties to conduct some of our laboratory testing and clinical trials, and a significant amount of our vaccine manufacturing and distribution, we may encounter delays in or lose some control over our efforts to develop and supply products and vaccine candidates.
•Many of our competitors have significantly greater resources and experience, which may negatively impact our commercial opportunities and those of our current and future licensees.
•The regulatory approval processes of the FDA and comparable foreign authorities are lengthy, time consuming and inherently unpredictable, and if we are ultimately unable to obtain regulatory approval for our vaccine candidates, our business will be substantially harmed.
•The regulatory approval processes of the FDA and comparable foreign authorities are lengthy, time consuming and inherently unpredictable, and if we are ultimately unable to obtain regulatory approval for our vaccine candidates, our business will be substantially harmed
•Our business may be adversely affected if we do not successfully execute our business development initiatives.
•Servicing our 2031 Notes and our 2027 Notes requires a significant amount of cash, and we may not have sufficient cash flow resources to pay our debt.
•Our Credit Agreement contains restrictions that limit our flexibility in operating our business.
•Because our stock price has been and will likely continue to be highly volatile, the market price of our common stock may be lower or more volatile than expected.
•Litigation or regulatory investigations could have a material adverse impact on our results of operation and financial condition.
•We or the third parties upon whom we depend may be adversely affected by natural or man-made disasters or public health emergencies.
Risks Related to Our Financial Condition and Capital Requirements
We have a history of losses and our future profitability is uncertain.
Our expenses have exceeded our revenue since our formation in 1987, and our accumulated deficit at December 31, 2025 was $4.6 billion. Our revenue and expenses have historically fluctuated significantly from period to period, and we believe our revenue and expenses will continue to fluctuate in the future.For most of our history our expenses have exceeded our revenue, which may occur during most periods in the foreseeable future. Our net income (loss) for the last three fiscal years were $440.3 million of income in 2025, $187.5 million of losses in 2024, and $545.1 million of losses in 2023.
Historically, our losses have resulted predominantly from research and development expenses for our vaccine candidates, manufacturing-related expenses, expenses associated with efforts to obtain regulatory approvals, costs related to protection of our intellectual property, and other general and administrative operating expenses, a significant portion of which have been noncash. We believe our research and development expenses may substantially increase in some years as a result of continuing efforts to develop, test, manufacture and make regulatory filings for our vaccine candidates.
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As of the end of fiscal year 2025, our investment in the development and manufacture of our COVID-19 Vaccine and our vaccine candidates has been substantial. As we evolve our operating model to focus on our partnership with Sanofi, the development of our late-stage pipeline, including our CIC and stand-alone influenza vaccine candidates, leveraging our Matrix-MTM technology to drive additional partnerships and deals, and our emerging, early-stage pipeline, we expect to continue to incur significant operating expenses and anticipate significant losses over time as we seek to:
•conduct additional clinical trials and continue to seek regulatory approvals for our vaccine candidates;
•conduct preclinical studies for other potential vaccine candidates;
•evaluate commercial opportunities for the use of our Matrix-MTM adjuvant alongside vaccine antigens produced by other manufacturers; and
•maintain, expand and protect our intellectual property portfolio.
As a result, we expect our cumulative operating losses to increase until such time, if ever, that product sales, licensing fees, royalties, milestones, contract research and other sources generate sufficient revenue to fully fund our operations. We may never achieve profitability and may not sustain profitability, if achieved.
We will continue to require significant funding to maintain our current level of operations and fund the further development of our vaccine candidates.
We do not currently generate sufficient revenue from product sales, licensing fees, royalties, milestones, contract research or other sources to fully fund our operations. We, therefore, will use our cash resources, and expect to require additional funds, to maintain our operations, continue our research and development programs, advance preclinical studies and clinical trials, seek regulatory approvals and manufacture and market any of our vaccine candidates that are approved for commercialization.
To date, we have financed our operations primarily through the sale of equity and debt securities, government funding and grant agreements, non-refundable upfront payment under the Sanofi CLA, revenue from product sales, and upfront payments under APAs for our COVID-19 Vaccine. Although we have entered into APAs for our COVID-19 Vaccine that include prepayments from the purchasers, until we can generate sufficient product revenue from such agreements to fully fund our operations, which we may never do, we expect to finance our cash needs through a combination of milestone payments, royalties, and payments for transition services and technology transfer under the Sanofi CLA, revenue from product sales, additional public or private equity or debt financings, which may include at the market offerings, existing cashand cash equivalents, investments in marketable securities, potential collaborations, strategic alliances, marketing, distribution or licensing arrangements, funding from governmental and non-governmental funding entities, and potentially other sources. While we may continue to apply for contracts or grants from academic institutions, non-profit organizations and governmental entities, we may not be successful. Adequate additional funding may not be available to us on favorable terms, or at all. Furthermore, negative interpretations of clinical trial data or setbacks, or perceived setbacks, with respect to manufacturing ability and/or capacity or regulatory filing timelines for our vaccine candidates, as well as the competitive landscape posed by other vaccines, may impair our ability to raise additional financing on favorable terms, or at all. If we cannot raise the additional funds required for our anticipated operations, we may be required to delay significantly, reduce the scope of or eliminate one or more of our research or development programs, downsize our organization, or seek alternative measures to avoid insolvency, including arrangements with collaborative partners or others that may require us to relinquish rights to certain of our technologies or vaccine candidates. If we raise additional funds through future offerings of shares of our common stock or other securities, such offerings would cause dilution of current stockholders’ percentage ownership in the Company, which could be substantial. Future offerings also could have a material and adverse effect on the price of our common stock.
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Economic and political uncertainty may adversely affect our access to capital, cost of capital and ability to execute our business plan as scheduled.
Generally, worldwide economic conditions remain uncertain, particularly due to the impact of increased interest rates, and inflation. In addition, our operations and performance may be affected by changes in diplomatic and trade relationships, tariffs, trade protection measures, import or export licensing requirements, new or different customs duties, trade embargoes and sanctions and other trade barriers, political or civil unrest or military action, including conflicts between Russia and Ukraine and Israel and Hamas as well as hostilities elsewhere in the Middle East. Access to capital markets is critical to our ability to operate. Traditionally, biotechnology companies have funded their research and development expenditures by raising capital in the equity markets. Declines and uncertainties in these markets in the past have severely restricted raising new capital and have affected companies’ ability to continue to expand or fund existing development, manufacturing, regulatory and commercialization efforts. We require significant capital for our current and expected operations. The general economic and capital market conditions, both in the U.S. and worldwide, have been volatile in the past and at times have adversely affected our access to capital and increased the cost of capital. The capital and credit markets may not be available to support future capital raising activity on favorable terms. If economic conditions decline, our future cost of equity or debt capital and access to the capital markets could be adversely affected. In addition, if we are unable to access the capital markets on favorable terms, our ability to execute our business plan as contemplated would be compromised. Moreover, we rely and intend to rely on third parties, including clinical research organizations, contract manufacturing organizations and other important vendors and consultants. Global economic conditions may result in a disruption or delay in the performance of our third-party contractors and suppliers. If such third parties are unable to adequately satisfy their contractual commitments to us in a timely manner, our business could be adversely affected.
Our existing collaboration, funding and supply agreements, including the Sanofi CLA and our APAs, do not assure success of our vaccine candidates or vaccines or that we will be able to fully fund our vaccine candidates or vaccines or our operations, and if we are unable to satisfy the performance obligations under such agreements, we may not be eligible to receive milestone payments under such agreements, the agreements may be terminated, the purchase commitments may be reduced or we may be required to refund advance payments.
We have entered into, and may in the future enter into, collaboration, funding, supply and other agreements for our vaccines or vaccine candidates to help fund the development, manufacture and/or commercialization of our vaccines or vaccine candidates. Certain of these agreements may contain development, technology transfer, launch, sales and other milestones related to our vaccines or vaccine candidates pursuant to which we may be eligible to receive milestone payments upon the achievement of the requisite milestone. For example, we are eligible to receive future milestone payments under the Sanofi CLA totaling up to $350 million in the aggregate with respect to COVID-19 Vaccine products, of which $75 million remains outstanding for the completion of the technology transfer of the Company’s manufacturing process for the COVID-19 Vaccine products to Sanofi, as well as up to $350 million in CIC Product-related development and launch milestones. We may experience challenges in satisfying our obligations under these agreements, including as a result of delayed performance of our third-party contractors and suppliers, which may impact our ability to achieve such milestones, potentially expose us to damages or other liability pursuant to these agreements, including the Sanofi CLA, and have a material and adverse effect on our financial condition.
Under certain APAs, if we do not timely achieve requisite regulatory milestones for our COVID-19 Vaccine in the relevant jurisdictions, obtain supportive recommendations from governmental advisory committees, and/or achieve product volume or delivery timing obligations, purchasers may seek to terminate such agreements, reduce their purchase commitments, require us to refund all or some prepayments we have received, or renegotiate such agreements, each of which could have a material and adverse effect on our financial condition. For example, in the first quarter of 2025, the Company received written notice of a $23.0 million claim related to certain performance obligations under an APA agreement with a customer. The Company believes it has fulfilled the requirements related to this matter and is evaluating the merits of the claim. The timing to fulfill performance obligations related to supply agreements will depend on timing of product manufacturing, receipt of marketing authorizations for additional indications, delivery of doses based on customer demand, and the ability of the customer to request variant vaccine in place of COVID-19 Vaccine under certain of our supply agreements. The supply agreements typically contain terms that include upfront payments intended to assist us in funding investments related to building out and operating our manufacturing and distribution network, among other expenses, in support of our global supply commitment, and are applied to billings upon delivery of a qualifying COVID-19 Vaccine. Such upfront payments generally become non-refundable upon our achievement of certain development, regulatory and commercial milestones. We may not achieve such milestones, which could have a material and adverse effect on our financial condition.
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For example, in December 2024, we entered into an amendment to the Australia APA pursuant to which, among other things, we acknowledged the cancellation by Australia of the delivery of certain doses of our COVID-19 Vaccine scheduled for delivery between the fourth quarter of 2023 and the fourth quarter of 2025 and we agreed to credit approximately $31 million of the advanced payment paid by Australia to us against outstanding invoices and invoices for the future delivery of approximately three million doses of COVID-19 Vaccine without requiring additional cash payments. In addition, the amendment provides for certain remedies for Australia, including return of unused credit, cancellation of doses, or termination of the Australia APA, in the eventwe are unable to gain regulatory approval of a variant COVID-19 vaccine or supply doses per the terms of the agreementSpecifically, Australia did not take delivery of doses that were due to be delivered in 2025 and may seek to cancel the future delivery of the 2025 as well as 2026 doses. If we are unable to provide doses per the supply schedule as amended, after six months, Australia may seek to terminate the APA. The amendment also provides Australia with the right to cancel doses if we fail to timely notify Australia of changes to our commercialization plans. In the event that we do not, on or before the relevant contractual deadlines, receive regulatory approval for, and deliver, the seasonally updated COVID-19 Vaccine, up to $92.5 million of deferred revenue may become refundable. As of December 31, 2025, $48.4 million was classified as current Deferred revenue and $85.4 million was classified as non-current Deferred revenue with respect to the Australia APA on our consolidated balance sheet, which will be recognized in product revenue as doses are delivered to Australia. In the third quarter of 2025 we withdrew our application for our COVID-19 Vaccine based on recommendations made by the TGA. The parties are in ongoing discussions and have agreed to a meeting to discuss outstanding issues and obligations under the APA. In light of these developments, we may seek to further amend the Australian APA, which amendment may not be achievable on acceptable terms or at all.
If we fail to maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results and current and potential stockholders may lose confidence in our financial and other public reporting, which would harm our business and have a negative effect on the trading price of our common stock.
We are required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 to establish and maintain adequate internal control over financial reporting that provides reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of our financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements in accordance with GAAP. We are likewise required, on an annual basis, to evaluate the effectiveness of our internal controls and to disclose on a quarterly basis any material changes in those internal controls.
As initially disclosed in Item 9A - Controls and Procedures in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, in connection with the audit of our financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2024, we identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting with regard to deficiencies specifically related to ineffective change management review and periodic access review controls, with respect to our human resources information system (“HRIS”), which was implemented in 2024. As a result of the deficiencies, certain change management and user access controls, as well as the related process-level IT dependent manual controls and automated application controls across various processes impacted by the HRIS were also determined to be ineffective.
While this material weakness was remediated in 2025, we may have additional material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting in the future. Any failure to maintain such internal controls, or to timely remediate any additional material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in the future, could adversely impact our ability to report our financial results on a timely and accurate basis and could restrict our future access to the capital markets. If our financial statements are not accurate, investors may not have a complete understanding of our operations or may lose confidence in our reported financial information. Likewise, if our financial statements are not filed on a timely basis as required by the SEC and Nasdaq, we could face severe consequences from those authorities. In either case, it could result in a material adverse effect on our business or have a negative effect on the trading price of our common stock.
Limitations on the use of our net operating losses and other tax attributes could adversely affect our financial condition.
As of December 31, 2025, we had federal and state net operating loss (“NOL”) carryforwards of $ $2.6 billion and $824.1 million, respectively, a portion of which were generated in taxable years before December 31, 2017. Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, as modified by the CARES Act, U.S. federal NOL carryforwards generated in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017, may be carried forward indefinitely, but the deductibility of such NOL carryforwards is limited to 80% of taxable income. A portion of our NOL carryforwards (including federal NOL carryforwards generated in taxable years prior to 2018) are subject to a limited carryforward period, and if we are unable to earn sufficient income or profits to utilize these NOL carryforwards before they expire, they will not be available to offset future taxable income. To the extent that we generate future taxable losses in the United States, unused losses will carry forward to offset future taxable
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income (subject to any applicable limitations), if any. Our NOL carryforwards are subject to review and possible adjustment by the appropriate taxing authorities.
In addition, our ability to utilize our NOL carryforwards and other tax attributes to offset future taxable income or tax liabilities may be limited as a result of certain ownership changes. Under Sections 382 and 383 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), our federal NOL carryforwards and other tax attributes may become subject to an annual limitation in the event of certain cumulative changes in our ownership that constitute an “ownership change” pursuant to Section 382 of the Code. An “ownership change” pursuant to Section 382 of the Code generally occurs if one or more stockholders or groups of stockholders who own at least 5% of a company’s stock increase their ownership by more than 50 percentage points over their lowest ownership percentage within a rolling three-year period. Similar provisions of state tax law may also apply to limit the use of our state NOL carryforwards. We may have experienced ownership changes in the past and could experience ownership changes in the future, including as a result of future changes in our stock ownership, some of which changes may be outside our control.
For these reasons, we may not be able to realize a tax benefit from the use of our NOL carryforwards and certain other tax attributes, whether or not we attain or maintain profitability. If our ability to use our NOL carryforwards or other tax attributes is limited or deferred, we may incur greater than expected tax liabilities and cash outflows, which could adversely affect our results of operations, liquidity, and overall financial condition. As of December 31, 2025, we maintain a full valuation allowance over our deferred tax assets for financial reporting purposes.
Risks Related to Product Development and Commercialization
Because our vaccine product development and commercialization efforts depend on new and rapidly evolving technologies, our efforts may not succeed.
Our vaccine development efforts depend on new, rapidly evolving technologies and on the marketability and profitability of our current and future products. The payments received from Sanofi for their commercialization of our COVID-19 Vaccine and the development and, if successful, commercialization efforts of our other vaccine candidates could fail for a variety of reasons, including if:
•our recombinant nanoparticle vaccine technologies, any or all of the products based on such technologies or our proprietary manufacturing process prove ineffective or unsafe;
•we or our third-party manufacturer facilities fail to reproducibly scale-up and maintain manufacturing with sufficiently high yields at reasonable cost and on projected timelines, or such manufacturing fails to generate product that consistently satisfies purity, potency, quality, stability, and shelf-life standards necessary for obtaining regulatory approvals or achieving commercial viability;
•the products are uneconomical to market or manufacture;
•some or all of the products that we or our third-party partners have manufactured may be determined to be unsalable based on criteria imposed by regulators in connection with potential regulatory approvals;
•our in-house or third-party manufacturing facilities fail regulatory inspections;
•proprietary rights of third-parties prevent us or our collaborators from exploiting technologies, and manufacturing or marketing products; or
•third-party competitors achieve and maintain greater market share due to earlier approvals or superior marketing capabilities.
Clinical and preclinical development involves a lengthy and expensive process with an uncertain outcome, and the results of prior clinical trials are not necessarily predictive of our future results.
Clinical and preclinical development is expensive and can take many years to complete, and its outcome is inherently uncertain. We cannot guarantee that any preclinical studies or clinical trials will be conducted as planned or completed on schedule, if at all, and failure can occur at any time during the trial or study process. Despite promising
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preclinical or clinical results, any vaccine candidate can unexpectedly fail at any stage of preclinical or clinical development. The historical failure rate for vaccine candidates in our industry is high, particularly in the early stages of development.
The results from preclinical studies or clinical trials of a vaccine candidate or a competitor’s vaccine candidate in the same class may not predict the results of later clinical trials of such vaccine candidate, and interim, topline, or preliminary results of a clinical trial are not necessarily indicative of final results. Vaccine candidates in later stages of clinical trials may fail to show the desired safety and efficacy characteristics despite having progressed through preclinical studies and initial clinical trials. It is not uncommon to observe results in clinical trials that are unexpected based on preclinical studies and early clinical trials. Many vaccine candidates fail in clinical trials despite very promising early results, and a number of companies in the biopharmaceutical and biotechnology industries have suffered significant setbacks in clinical development even after achieving promising results in earlier preclinical studies and clinical trials.
Based upon negative or inconclusive results, we or any future collaborator may decide, or regulators may require us, to conduct additional preclinical studies or clinical trials, which would cause us to incur additional operating expenses. In addition, if our collaborators conduct clinical trials that generate negative results or results that conflict with the results of our clinical trials, the FDA or other regulatory authorities may delay, limit, or deny approval of our vaccine candidates, require us to conduct additional clinical trials as a condition to regulatory approval. As a result, we cannot be certain that our planned preclinical studies and clinical trials will be successful. Any safety concerns observed in any one of our clinical trials in our targeted indications could limit the prospects for regulatory approval of our vaccine candidates, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In addition, the FDA’s and other regulatory authorities’ policies with respect to clinical trials may change and additional government regulations may be enacted. For instance, the regulatory landscape related to clinical trials in the EU recently evolved. The EU Clinical Trials Regulation (“CTR”), which was adopted in April 2014 and repeals the EU Clinical Trials Directive, became applicable on January 31, 2022. While the EU Clinical Trials Directive required a separate clinical trial application (“CTA”), to be submitted in each member state in which the clinical trial takes place, to both the competent national health authority and an independent ethics committee, the CTR introduces a centralized process and only requires the submission of a single application for multi-center trials. The CTR allows sponsors to make a single submission to both the competent authority and an ethics committee in each member state, leading to a single decision per member state. The assessment procedure of the CTA has been harmonized as well, including a joint assessment by all member states concerned, and a separate assessment by each member state with respect to specific requirements related to its own territory, including ethics rules. Each member state’s decision is communicated to the sponsor via the centralized EU portal. Once the CTA is approved, clinical study development may proceed. The CTR transition period ended on January 31, 2025, and all clinical trials (and related applications) are now fully subject to the provisions of the CTR. Furthermore, on April 28, 2025, the UK adopted an amendment to the Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) Regulations 2004 intended to support a more streamlined and flexible regulation of clinical trials, removing unnecessary administrative burdens on trial sponsors, whilst protecting the interests of trial participants. It also intends to bring the UK regulatory framework for clinical trials, which is still based on the EU Clinical Trials Directive, into closer alignment with the CTR. The amendment will become applicable on April 28, 2026 following a one-year transition period. If we, or our third-party providers, such as CRO, are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies governing clinical trials, our development plans may be impacted.
Any difficulties or delays in the commencement or completion, or the termination or suspension, of our current or planned clinical trials could result in increased costs to us, delay or limit our ability to generate revenue or adversely affect our commercial prospects.
Before obtaining regulatory approval from regulatory authorities for the sale of our vaccine candidates, we must conduct extensive clinical trials to demonstrate the safety, purity, potency, immunogenicity and efficacy of the vaccine candidates in humans. Before we can initiate clinical trials for our vaccine candidates, we must submit the results of preclinical studies to the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities along with other information, including information about vaccine candidate chemistry, manufacturing and controls and our proposed clinical trial protocol, as part of an Investigational New Drug Application (“IND”) to the FDA or as part of any similar regulatory submission required for allowance to proceed with clinical development. The FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may require us to conduct additional preclinical studies, or added clinical evaluation under any IND, clinical trial application or similar regulatory submission, which may lead to delays and increase the costs of our clinical development program. Moreover, even if we commence clinical trials, issues may arise that could cause regulatory authorities to suspend or terminate such clinical trials. Any such delays in the commencement or completion of our preclinical studies and planned clinical trials for our vaccine candidates could significantly affect our product development timelines and product development costs.
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We do not know whether our planned clinical trials will begin on time or be completed on schedule, if at all. The commencement, data readouts and completion of clinical trials can be delayed for a number of reasons, including delays related to:
•inability to generate sufficient preclinical, toxicology, or other in vivo or in vitro data to support the initiation or continuation of clinical trials;
•obtaining regulatory authorizations or allowances to commence a trial or reaching a consensus with regulatory authorities on trial design;
•the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities disagreeing as to the implementation of our clinical trials;
•any failure or delay in reaching an agreement with contract research organizations (“CROs”) and clinical trial sites, the terms of which can be subject to extensive negotiation and may vary significantly among different CROs and trial sites;
•delays in identifying, recruiting and training suitable clinical investigators;
•obtaining approval from one or more institutional review boards (“IRBs”) or ethics committees at clinical trial sites;
•IRBs refusing to approve, suspending or terminating the trial at an investigational site, precluding enrollment of additional subjects, or withdrawing their approval of the trial;
•major changes or amendments to the clinical trial protocol;
•clinical sites deviating from the trial protocol or dropping out of a trial;
•failure by our CROs to perform in accordance with good clinical practice (“GCP”) requirements or applicable regulatory guidelines in other countries;
•manufacturing sufficient quantities of our vaccine candidates and placebo for use in clinical trials, which could be materially impacted by supply chain disruption or other issues;
•expiration of the shelf life of clinical material for use in clinical trials prior to the enrollment of any of our clinical trials;
•subjects failing to enroll or remain in our trials at the rate we expect, or failing to return for post-treatment follow-up, including subjects failing to remain in our trials;
•insufficient incidence of infection with the applicable disease or condition that would allow us to evaluate the endpoints in our clinical trials of our vaccine candidates;
•individuals choosing an alternative product for the indication for which we are developing our vaccine candidates, or participating in competing clinical trials;
•lack of adequate funding to continue the clinical trial;
•subjects experiencing severe or serious unexpected vaccine-related adverse effects;
•occurrence of vaccine-related serious adverse events in trials of other vaccine candidates conducted by other companies that could be considered similar to our vaccine candidates;
•selection of clinical endpoints that require prolonged periods of clinical observation or extended analysis of the resulting data;