Novavax Picks Takeda to Commercialize Its COVID-19 Vaccine in Japan

Maryland-based Novavax has teamed up with Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. to commercialize Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate NVX-CoV2373 in Japan.

Under the agreement, Takeda will license and manufacture the vaccine with an adjuvant supplied by Novavax, producing more than 250 million vaccine doses per year if the vaccine is approved.

Takeda will be responsible for regulatory submissions and distribution in Japan, and will receive funding from Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare to support the scaling up of manufacturing.

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but Novavax will receive payments based on development and commercial milestones, as well as a portion of the proceeds from sales of the vaccine.

Novavax CEO Stanley Erck called Takeda an ideal partner because of its “leading position in Japan, technical expertise, regulatory know-how and manufacturing capacity.”

The deal came just a day after Novavax announced an agreement with the Serum Institute of India to commercialize NVX-CoV2373 in low- and middle-income countries (DID, Aug. 7). — Jordan Williams