[theold]

GAITHERSBURG, MARYLAND—Eighteen months ago, a small vaccinemaker here called Novavax faced an existential threat: delisting by the NASDAQ stock index. On the heels of a second failed vaccine trial in less than 3 years, the firm's shares had plunged to less than $1 for 30 straight days, triggering a warning by NASDAQ. Frantic to conserve cash, the company sold its two Maryland manufacturing facilities, slicing its payroll by more than 100 employees. By January, it employed only 166 people.

"Good ideas. Bad management. … The company will probably die soon," a former Novavax manager wrote on Glassdoor.com in October 2019.

What a difference a year—and a pandemic—make. Today, Novavax is slated to receive up to $2 billion from the U.S. government and a nonprofit organization to develop and manufacture a coronavirus vaccine. The company's stock closed at $80.71 per share on 30 October, it has hired more than 300 new employees, and this month it plans to launch a pivotal clinical trial of its coronavirus vaccine in the United States and Mexico. Made by moth cells harnessed to crank out the virus' spike protein—which the pathogen uses to invade human cells—Novavax's vaccine outshone major competitors on key measures in monkey and early human tests.



https://www.science.org/content/article/...us-vaccine