At the J. P. Morgan Healthcare Conference 2026, Novavax’s President and CEO, John C. Jacobs, reviewed the company’s successes in 2025 and shared its growth strategy for 2026 and beyond.
From a financial standpoint, Novavax ended 2025 with cash and receivables of approximately $920m, providing runway into 2028. Other achievements in 2025 included milestone payments, the development and advancement of pipeline programs, and increased market shares for already licensed products. The overarching theme relayed by Jacobs was the success of Novavax’s Matrix-M technology and the value of its partnerships.
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Novavax’s Matrix-M is a proprietary vaccine adjuvant that has been shown to enhance immune response and vaccine effectiveness. Matrix-M contains saponins from the bark of the soapbark tree and works by activating both the body’s innate and adaptive immune systems. Matrix-M is used in Novavax’s Covid-19 vaccine, Nuvaxovid, which is marketed by Sanofi and Takeda, as well as the University of Oxford and the Serum Institute of India’s malaria vaccine, R21/Matrix-M. In 2025, Nuvaxovid’s US Biologics License Application (BLA) was approved, and in 2026, the vaccine will have a formal full launch in the US under a BLA license. Also in 2025, R21/Matrix-M was administered to 25 million children in Africa, accounting for an 85% market share. Jacobs referred to the vaccine as the “biggest legacy and impact on global public health”.
Novavax’s 2026 growth strategy relies on partnerships, R&D, and a lean operating model. Novavax has entered into numerous material transfer agreements (MTAs) with various organisations, which allows these companies to receive and experiment with Matrix-M in their own laboratories, leading to potential partnerships. In the last year, Novavax signed MTAs with two top 10 pharmaceutical companies, another large pharmaceutical company, an oncology company, and several smaller organisations. Its goal is that these agreements turn into future partnerships, similar to that of its existing partnerships with Sanofi, Takeda, and the Serum Institute of India.
Novavax’s growth strategy focuses on expanding within the global vaccine market, which is projected to grow to over $60bn in the next four to five years. The presentation highlighted key markets such as vaccines for pneumococcal disease, human papilloma virus (HPV), shingles, influenza, Covid-19, influenza/Covid-19 combination, diphtheria/tetanus/pertussis (DTaP), meningococcal disease, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), several of which are already in Novavax’s development pipeline.
Novavax’s partnership with Sanofi includes vaccines covering Covid-19, influenza/Covid-19 combination, pandemic influenza, and other respiratory vaccines. Novavax’s preclinical vaccine programs include Clostridiodes difficile (C. diff), shingles, RSV, RSV combination vaccines, and pandemic influenza. Novavax’s late-stage pipeline, which is in search of potential partnerships, includes influenza/Covid-19 combination and seasonal influenza. Novavax’s vision for growth in the next several years includes additional licensing agreements and partnerships, the release of preclinical data from its development pipeline, and the advancement of pipeline products into the clinic. With the growing success of Novavax’s Matrix-M technology, its vision statement has the potential to become a reality, with transformative effects on global health.
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