What happened
They say that good things come in threes. That appears to be the case for Dynavax Technologies (DVAX -1.27%) today. Shares of the biotech were skyrocketing 47.1% as of 12:36 p.m. EST on Monday after the company announced three developments.
First, Dynavax and Clover Biopharmaceuticals announced plans to kick off a phase 2/3 clinical study in the first half of this year evaluating Clover's S-Trimer COVID-19 vaccine candidate with Dynavax's CpG 1018 adjuvant. Second, Dynavax and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) announced a $99 million deal for Dynavax to supply CpG 1018 manufacturing for the global COVID-19 response. Third, the company announced that the U.K. government is ordering an additional 40 million doses of Valneva's COVID-19 vaccine VLA2001, which uses Dynavax's CpG 1018 adjuvant.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
All three of these announcements are very good news for Dynavax. And they all served as solid catalysts for the biotech stock.
Dynavax has committed to delivering enough CpG 1018 adjuvant for 100 million doses of VLA2001 in total. That will generate revenue for the company of up to $230 million this year. And Valneva has an option to buy additional quantities of Dynavax's adjuvant to support another 90 million doses of VLA2001. The U.K. government's order announced today makes it more likely that Valneva will need to obtain more adjuvant from Dynavax.
Turning to the CEPI deal, the nonprofit organization will fund up to $99 million to Dynavax for manufacturing CpG 1018. But this amount will technically be a loan. As Dynavax sells its adjuvant, it will reimburse CEPI for the funded manufacturing cost. But if the vaccine programs covered under the agreement don't pan out, the loan will be forgiven. Clover's S-Trimer is one of the COVID vaccine programs funded by CEPI.
Now what
Dynavax should have plenty of other potential catalysts throughout this year. One to watch especially that's related to today's announcements is Valneva's announcement of initial results from its phase 1/2 studies of VLA2001, expected in April.
