Drug Discovery and Development

  • Home Drug Discovery and Development
  • Drug Discovery
  • Women in Pharma and Biotech
  • Oncology
  • Neurological Disease
  • Infectious Disease
  • Resources
    • Video features
    • Podcast
    • Voices
    • Views
    • Webinars
  • Pharma 50
    • 2025 Pharma 50
    • 2024 Pharma 50
    • 2023 Pharma 50
    • 2022 Pharma 50
    • 2021 Pharma 50
  • Advertise
  • SUBSCRIBE

Japan scraps 140 million dose order of Novavax COVID vaccine, Takeda reveals

By Brian Buntz | February 11, 2023

Takeda Pharmaceutical in the Drug Discovery & Development Pharma 50In 2021, Takeda (TYO:4502) announced that it would manufacture 150 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine from NovaVax (Nasdaq:NVAX). But the company has disclosed that the Japanese government has canceled the remaining order for the Nuvaxovid vaccine.

The Japanese government acquired 8.24 million vaccine doses but said it would cancel the remaining order for the remaining 141.76 million doses owing to low demand.

Takeda and Novavax are collaborating on developing a new vaccine optimized for future variants in 2023.

Novavax currently has an omicron vaccine candidate in a Phase 3 trial.

The company has data demonstrating that its adjuvanted NVX-CoV2373 vaccine prompts a robust immune response when used as a booster and is effective against forward drift variants of SARS-CoV-2.

Novavax plans to provide a monovalent or bivalent vaccine for the 2023–2024 vaccination season based on FDA feedback. The FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBAC) recently voted unanimously to harmonize the COVID vaccine.

Japan’s decision to cancel the order for the Novavax vaccine won’t have a material impact on Takeda’s finances, and the company has yet to make any changes to their full-year consolidated forecasts for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023.

Novavax’s valuation has plummeted since February 12, 2021, when it hit $290.18. It is currently trading at less than $10 per share.

Takeda also produced Moderna’s (Nasdaq:MRNA) COVID-19 vaccine for the Japanese market until the middle of 2022. At that point, the companies announced that Moderna would be responsible for marketing authorization of the Spikevax vaccine in Japan starting August 1, 2022.

Takeda projected that the revenue from COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing, which included the Spikevax vaccine, will be in the ballpark of ¥50.0 billion in FY2022.

Takeda recently acquired Nimbus Therapeutics’ subsidiary, Nimbus Lakshmi, which includes its tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2) program.

 


Filed Under: Infectious Disease
Tagged With: Novavax, Takeda
 

About The Author

Brian Buntz

As the pharma and biotech editor at WTWH Media, Brian has almost two decades of experience in B2B media, with a focus on healthcare and technology. While he has long maintained a keen interest in AI, more recently Brian has made making data analysis a central focus, and is exploring tools ranging from NLP and clustering to predictive analytics.

Throughout his 18-year tenure, Brian has covered an array of life science topics, including clinical trials, medical devices, and drug discovery and development. Prior to WTWH, he held the title of content director at Informa, where he focused on topics such as connected devices, cybersecurity, AI and Industry 4.0. A dedicated decade at UBM saw Brian providing in-depth coverage of the medical device sector. Engage with Brian on LinkedIn or drop him an email at bbuntz@wtwhmedia.com.

Related Articles Read More >

Close-up medical syringe with a vaccine.
Six leading medical organizations sue RFK Jr. over vaccine recommendations
RFK’s new ACIP changed longstanding vaccine recommendations
Secretary of Health removes all current members of the CDC advisory committee on immunization practices
covid-19 vaccine
FDA COVID booster pullback jolts vaccine stocks before gains cool
“ddd
EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND STAY CONNECTED
Get the latest news and trends happening now in the drug discovery and development industry.

MEDTECH 100 INDEX

Medtech 100 logo
Market Summary > Current Price
The MedTech 100 is a financial index calculated using the BIG100 companies covered in Medical Design and Outsourcing.
Drug Discovery and Development
  • MassDevice
  • DeviceTalks
  • Medtech100 Index
  • Medical Design Sourcing
  • Medical Design & Outsourcing
  • Medical Tubing + Extrusion
  • Subscribe to our E-Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • R&D World
  • Drug Delivery Business News
  • Pharmaceutical Processing World

Copyright © 2025 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media
Privacy Policy | Advertising | About Us

Search Drug Discovery & Development

  • Home Drug Discovery and Development
  • Drug Discovery
  • Women in Pharma and Biotech
  • Oncology
  • Neurological Disease
  • Infectious Disease
  • Resources
    • Video features
    • Podcast
    • Voices
    • Views
    • Webinars
  • Pharma 50
    • 2025 Pharma 50
    • 2024 Pharma 50
    • 2023 Pharma 50
    • 2022 Pharma 50
    • 2021 Pharma 50
  • Advertise
  • SUBSCRIBE