After the British AstraZeneca, it is the turn of Sanofi to give up its anti-Covid vaccine. The French group will now market that of its American competitor Novavax, which it will also try to combine with its flu vaccines. “The last doses of VidPrevtyn Beta”, Sanofi’s anti-Covid vaccine, “expired at the end of January 2024”, the French giant indicated on Friday in an email to AFP. “We have withdrawn the marketing authorization application from the World Health Organization (WHO).”
“Sufficient supply” elsewhere
“This decision is not linked to issues of effectiveness, safety or quality, but simply to the fact that there is a sufficient supply of other Covid-19 vaccines in the world,” Sanofi clarified. This decision marks a new stage in the post-pandemic management by the pharmaceutical sector. The main groups are, in fact, facing a clear decline in sales of anti-Covid vaccines.
Just before Sanofi, the British AstraZeneca announced on Wednesday the withdrawal of its vaccine, one of the first put on the market during the pandemic, citing a fall in demand. The case of Sanofi, whose vaccine was slow to arrive on the market, is however a little different, since the French will recover the exploitation of another anti-Covid vaccine, that of the American Novavax.
The two groups have concluded “a co-exclusive licensing agreement for the co-marketing of a Covid-19 vaccine and the development of combined influenza-Covid-19 vaccines”, they announced on Friday in a joint press release. This agreement, which will see Sanofi pay at least $500 million and up to $1.2 billion to Novavax, provides that the former will market the latter’s vaccine from 2025. French will also manage regulatory issues, as well as research and development. Some countries, such as India, will however be exceptions, because Novavax already has other agreements there.
Relief for Novavax
The contract also provides that Sanofi can develop combined influenza and Covid vaccines, based on that of Novavax. Finally, the Frenchman will take a small share – less than 5% – of Novavax. For the two groups, the issues are different, even if they have in common that they offer Covid vaccines which are not based on messenger RNA. This innovative technology serves as the basis for the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, which quickly became dominant in the anti-Covid vaccination campaigns of Western countries due to their high effectiveness.
Arriving later, the more traditional vaccines from Sanofi and Novavax had more difficulty finding their place. The fate of the American had even appeared threatened for several months. Novavax, a small group whose portfolio is very dependent on its Covid vaccine, reported significant financial difficulties last year. Its stock, which reached hundreds of dollars at the peak of the pandemic, is now only worth between 4 and 5 dollars.
For Sanofi, a giant whose existence is not called into question by the fall in sales of anti-Covid vaccines, the agreement allows not only to resolve the fate of its own product, but also to bet on a combined vaccination with the flu. The Frenchman, who was slow to develop his anti-Covid vaccine, is in fact one of the major players in flu vaccines. “Sanofi will be solely responsible for the development and marketing of any new combined influenza-Covid-19 vaccine developed with a Sanofi influenza vaccine,” the press release specifies.