As part of Sanofi?s commitment to developing a diverse portfolio of best-in-class vaccines, the company has entered into a co-exclusive licensing agreement with Novavax, a biotechnology company headquartered in Maryland, US. The terms of the agreement include: a co-exclusive license to co-commercialize Novavax?s current stand-alone adjuvanted COVID-19 vaccine worldwide (except in countries with existing Advance Purchase Agreements and in India, Japan, and South Korea where Novavax has existing partnership agreements); a sole license to Novavax?s adjuvanted COVID-19 vaccine for use in combination with Sanofi?s flu vaccines; and a non-exclusive license to use the Matrix-M? adjuvant in vaccine products. In addition, Sanofi will take a minority (<5%) equity investment in Novavax.

Under the terms of the licensing agreement: Novavax will receive an upfront payment of $500 million and up to $700 million in development, regulatory and launch milestones, up to $1.2 billion in total. Starting in 2025, Sanofi will book sales of Novavax?s adjuvanted COVID-19 vaccine and will support certain R&D, regulatory, and commercial expenses. Novavax will receive tiered double-digit percentage royalty payments on sales by Sanofi of COVID-19 vaccines and flu-COVID-19 combination vaccines.

Sanofi will be solely responsible for development and commercialization of any novel flu-COVID-19 combination vaccine containing a Sanofi flu vaccine. Outside of the collaboration, each party may develop and commercialize their own flu-COVID-19 vaccines and adjuvanted products at their own cost. Novavax is entitled to additional launch and sales milestones opportunities of up to $200 million plus mid-single digit royalties for each additional Sanofi vaccine product developed under a non-exclusive license with Novavax?s Matrix-M adjuvant technology.

In addition, Sanofi will take a minority (<5%) equity investment in Novavax.