Novavax has made several commitments to supply nations with its COVID-19 vaccine, but lagging manufacturing timelines and trial delays have been inhibiting the drugmaker's vaccine delivery goals.
In July, the U.S. granted Novavax $1.6 billion to develop and manufacture its COVID-19 vaccine, and the drugmaker promised to deliver 100 million doses to the country. In April, the deal had increased to $1.75 billion, according to Novavax’s financial filings.
Novavax signed a contract May 6 with public-private global vaccine partnership Gavi in which it pledged to supply 1.1 billion doses of its vaccine to low- and middle-income countries. The drugmaker has also pledged doses to countries such as Japan, South Korea and Australia.
The drugmaker has also signed agreements with eight production plants across the globe, according to The New York Times.
However, Novavax has struggled to show it can deliver on its contracts, which promise to supply the world with 2 billion doses in 2021.
This year, the drugmaker has pushed back its manufacturing timelines after facing shortages of manufacturing supplies, such as filters and single-use bags. It made its most recent revision May 10, saying it expects to produce 100 million doses a month by the end of the third quarter of 2021 and 150 million a month by the fourth quarter.
Novavax's U.S.-Mexico vaccine trial has not yet been completed, due mainly to production delays. The drugmaker said May 10 it expects results "in a few weeks. "It also said it probably won't file for FDA emergency use authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine until June.
Novavax officials told the Times the drugmaker does not expect to deliver the U.S. with its doses until the end of 2021 or early 2022, saying the contract with the U.S. government does not have a penalty for late delivery.