SK bioscience has announced plans to purchase Novovax shares via an equity investment of $85m through a private placement.

Its board of directors decided to acquire 6.5 million shares of common stock of the protein-based vaccine developer at $13 per share.

The companies formed a CMO/CDMO [contract manufacturing organisation/contract development and manufacturing organisation] alliance during the Covid-19 pandemic. Now that the disease is endemic, their strategy is to evolve toward a longstanding collaboration

The companies have extended an existing licence agreement by including a modified Covid-19 vaccine from Novavax.

This vaccine is being developed for annual inoculation drives. 

Under the extended deal, SK bioscience will now gain exclusive rights to supply and market the Covid-19 variant vaccine in South Korea and non-exclusive rights in Thailand and Vietnam.

Leveraging variant strain antigens and the Matrix-M adjuvant of Novavax, the company will carry out the production and marketing of pre-filled syringes containing drug and vaccine products.

The companies will also explore partnerships using the Matrix-M adjuvant.

SK bioscience CEO Jaeyong Ahn stated: “We believe that the strategic equity investment and the continuous co-operation between SK bioscience and Novavax, which are among the few companies that focused on developing Covid-19 vaccines during the pandemic, will create a powerful synergy. 

“SK bioscience is focused on developing a successful global cooperative model in terms of company growth, health promotion and response to the next pandemic.”

In July 2023, SK bioscience signed a memorandum of understanding with the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) to boost vaccine infrastructure in Thailand.