Japan cancels 140 million dose order for Novavax Covid vaccine amid 'lower than expected' demand

TOKYO, Feb 11 (endpts.com) - Japan has canceled an order for more than 140 million doses of Novavax’s Covid-19 vaccine, Takeda revealed in an SEC filing.

The country initially agreed in 2021 to purchase 150 million doses of the vaccine from Takeda, which has been producing Novavax’s vaccine at its Hikari-based facility. But after only purchasing 8.24 million doses, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has canceled the remaining 141.76 million doses.

“We are seeing low market demand for Nuvaxovid, lower than expected given the current situation of vaccination in Japan and prevalence of Omicron,” Costa Saroukos, CFO at Takeda, said during the company’s Q4 call last week.

Because the doses were being manufactured as orders from the government came in, there will be no “disposal” of doses as a result of the cancelation, Takeda said in the filing on Friday. ...continue reading

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