Allying with Sanofi is a boost for Novavax, which has seen its share price crumble and come under activist investor pressure as it struggles to sell its COVID shot.
The company pitched the vaccine as an alternative to the dominant messenger RNA-based products sold by Pfizer and Moderna, one that is easier to ship and distribute to harder-to-reach areas. But that message hasn’t quite caught on and sales totaled only about $1 billion last year, a period during which Novavax swapped CEOs and laid off hundreds of staff.
