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Novavax and Serum Institute of India (SII) has announced a commercial license agreement for the use of Novavax’ proprietary Matrix-M™ vaccine adjuvant with SII’s malaria vaccine candidate. SII licensed the R21 malaria vaccine, which targets the most severe plasmodium falciparum-induced malaria disease, from the Jenner Institute at Oxford University in 2017. Matrix-M is a key component in the malaria vaccine candidate, currently in a Phase 2b clinical trial sponsored by the Jenner Institute, with top-line data expected to be reported in the second quarter of 2020.
Under the terms of the agreement, SII is granted rights to use Matrix-M in the vaccine in regions where the disease is endemic and will pay Novavax royalties on its market sales of the vaccine. Matrix-M will be manufactured and supplied to SII by Novavax AB, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Novavax based in Uppsala, Sweden.
In addition, as part of the arrangement, Novavax has gained the rights to sell and distribute the SII-manufactured vaccine in high-income countries, primarily in the travelers and military vaccine markets.
“Novavax’ next-generation adjuvant, Matrix-M, is an impressive and critical component in this much-needed malaria vaccine,” said Adar Poonawalla, Chief Executive Officer of Serum Institute of India. “This will be an important long-term partnership in advancing an innovative potential malaria vaccine and while we have much work to do, this marks a key step forward.”
