The decline in global demand for Covid-19 vaccines has forced Novavax to restructure its production. Thus, the company has contract terminated he had with Fujifilm for making his doses coronavirus antigen.
In a statement sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the United States, Novavax has announced that it will pay 190 million euros (185 million dollars) to Fujifilm for canceling the production contract.
The company has already made an initial payment of 49.1 million euros ($ 47.8 million). The rest will be paid in four installments of 35.2 million euros (34.3 million dollars) starting next March 31, 2023.
However, Novavax did not terminate the entire agreement with Fujifilm. As company sources confirmed to EL ESPAÑOL-Invertia, Fujifilm will continue to manufacture pharmaceutical vaccines In the united kingdom. While we do not currently have plans to produce in the US, we will consider the need for additional facilities in the future.
For the time being, Novavax has consolidated its vaccine production through alliances with Serum Institute of India and SK bioscience. A capacity to which is added that of its facilities in the Czech Republic. “Our collaboration with these partners guarantees a global supply chain sufficient to meet the current global demand”, underlined the sources consulted by this newspaper.
The agreement with Fujifilm
Last July 2020, Novavax announced a collaboration agreement under which Fujifilm would manufacture the active ingredient for the Covid vaccine at its facilities in Morrisville, North Carolina. The antigen was being developed at that time.
This agreement was part of the award of 1.6 billion dollars that Novavax had received from the US government through a program through which the country wanted to ensure the supply of vaccines against Covid-19.
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However, it wasn’t until July 2022 that the US regulatory body, the FDA, cleared the use of the Novavax antigen.
This emergency clearance came at a time when the country led by Joe Biden was facing a spike in coronavirus cases and the expansion of omicron sub-variants.
Novavax vaccine in the EU
Although Novavax received authorization for its Covid vaccine in the United States this year, the same has not happened in the European Union. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has approved the antigen in December 2021.
However, it was not without delays. First, its approval was expected between April and May 2021. It was later postponed to October. Finally, it was approved on December 20.
The reason for these delays is none other than Novavax’s production capacity. As told by María Jesús Lamas, executive director of the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products (AEMPS), production capacity This is one of the things that the EMA also takes into account when giving the green light to a drug or vaccine.
Once authorized, the pharmaceutical company planned to start sending the doses to the European Union in January of this year. But it hasn’t even been fulfilled.
As explained by Novavax to EL ESPAÑOL-Invertia, the vaccines were stored in Dutch refrigerators pending the completion of “local tests”. It wasn’t until February 23, when the pharmaceutical company started sending the first doses to the European Union. They reached Germany, France and Austria.
