Sanofi has struck a licensing deal worth up to $1.2bn with Novavax to commercialise the struggling Covid-19 vaccine maker’s coronavirus jab and use the technology to develop its own combined shot with flu.
The partnership strengthens Sanofi, one of the world’s largest vaccine makers by sales, in the post-pandemic Covid-19 jab market, where pharmaceutical groups are increasingly focused on combined shots against two or more infectious diseases.
Under the agreement, Sanofi would lead the sales push of Novavax’s Covid-19 jab from next year in most countries worldwide and have the rights to combine the US biotech’s protein-based vaccine technology with its flu shots and other infectious disease jabs, the companies said on Friday.