Vaccitech Announces Notification of Milestone and Royalty Revenue Relating to Sales of Vaxzevria®
April 06 2022 - 4:15PM
Vaccitech plc (NASDAQ: VACC), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical
company engaged in the discovery and development of novel
immunotherapeutics and vaccines, today announced that it has been
notified of the commencement of royalty payments relating to
commercial sales of Vaxzevria®. Vaccitech’s share of milestone and
royalty payments, arising from AstraZeneca’s commercial sales of
Vaxzevria® during the fourth quarter of 2021, amounts to
approximately $15 million.
Vaxzevria® is a SARS-CoV2 vaccine that was
developed using Vaccitech’s and Oxford University’s ChAdOx
technology. In 2020, Vaccitech assigned its rights in Vaxzevria® to
Oxford University Innovation (OUI) to facilitate the license of
those rights by OUI to AstraZeneca. Under the terms of an exclusive
worldwide license agreement between OUI and AstraZeneca, OUI is
entitled to milestone payments and royalties on commercial sales of
Vaxzevria® that began after the pandemic period. As part of the
assignment from Vaccitech to OUI, Vaccitech is entitled to receive
approximately 24% of payments received by OUI from AstraZeneca.
"We're pleased that Vaxzevria® continues to be
an important vaccination option for the billions of people
worldwide who are at risk of SARS-CoV2 infection," said Bill
Enright, Chief Executive Officer of Vaccitech. "This significant
milestone for Vaxzevria® showcases Vaccitech’s role in the
co-invention of a vaccine that continues to be an important part of
both vaccination and boosting strategies worldwide and contributes
capital that we can direct toward our exciting portfolio of product
candidates."
AstraZeneca and its contract manufacturing
partners have supplied more than 2.6 billion doses of the
Vaxzevria® vaccine, which in addition to being supplied
commercially in some countries, continues to be deployed globally
on a not-for-profit basis to low- and middle-income countries,
including through the United Nations-backed COVAX initiative.
In January 2022, a preliminary analysis of a
safety and immunogenicity trial sponsored by AstraZeneca
(D7220C00001) showed that Vaxzevria®, when given as a third dose
booster, increased the immune response to Beta, Delta, Alpha and
Gamma SARS-CoV-2 variants, while a separate analysis showed
increased antibody response to the Omicron variant. Positive
interim results of the trial and additional analysis demonstrated
that AZD2816 (a COVID-19 variant vaccine) generated a similar
immune response to Vaxzevria® against variants of concern,
including Omicron, and AZD2816 and Vaxzevria® were found to be
generally well tolerated. Given these data, the low circulation of
the Beta variant and the substantial body of evidence supporting
Vaxzevria® against current variants of concern, AstraZeneca
discontinued the AZD2816 development programme and has indicated
that it will continue to focus on the supply of Vaxzevria® around
the world.
About Vaccitech
Vaccitech (“the Company”) is a clinical-stage
biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development
primarily of novel immunotherapies for the treatment of chronic
infectious diseases, cancer and other diseases where the T cell arm
of the immune system is believed to play an important role. The
company’s proprietary platforms include modified simian adenoviral
vectors (ChAdOx1 and ChAdOx2), other viral vectors including the
well-validated Modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA) and synthetic
nano-particle technologies (SNAPvax™ and Syntholytic™). The
combination of different technologies in a mix and match approach
(heterologous prime-boost) consistently generates significantly
higher magnitudes of T cells compared with other technologies and
approaches. The Company has a broad pipeline of both clinical and
preclinical stage therapeutic programs to treat solid tumors,
chronic viral infections, as well as a few prophylactic viral
vaccine programs. Vaccitech co-invented a COVID-19 vaccine with the
University of Oxford, now approved for use in many territories and
exclusively licensed worldwide to AstraZeneca through Oxford
University Innovation, or OUI. Vaccitech is entitled to receive a
share of all milestone and royalty income received by OUI from
AstraZeneca.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking
statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995, as amended, including, without limitation,
statements regarding the Company’s expectations for the receipt of
additional royalty and milestone payments related to commercial
sales of Vaxzevria. The words “may,” “will,” “could,” “would,”
“should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “believe,”
“estimate,” “predict,” “project,” “potential,” “continue” and
similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking
statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain
these identifying words. Any forward-looking statements in this
press release are based on management’s current expectations and
beliefs and are subject to numerous risks, uncertainties and
important factors that may cause actual events or results to differ
materially from those expressed or implied by any forward-looking
statements contained in this press release, including, without
limitation the risks identified in the Company’s filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), including its
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year 2021 and subsequent
filings with the SEC. The Company cautions you not to place undue
reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of
the date they are made. The Company expressly disclaims any
obligation to publicly update or revise any such statements to
reflect any change in expectations or in events, conditions or
circumstances on which any such statements may be based, or that
may affect the likelihood that actual results will differ from
those set forth in the forward-looking statements.
Investors:
Vaccitech Investor Relations ir@vaccitech.co.uk
Vaccitech Media Contacts:
Katja Stout, Scius Communications (EU) Direct: +44 (0)
7789435990 Email: katja@sciuscommunications.com
Robert Flamm, Ph.D. (US) / Katie Larch (US) Email:
rflamm@burnsmc.com / klarch@burnsmc.com
Karim Saleh, Vaccitech Email:
karim.saleh@vaccitech.co.uk
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