What happened
Shares of Novavax (NVAX -0.95%) were tumbling 9.7% as of 11:28 a.m. ET on Tuesday. The company didn't make any announcements that would explain the decline. Instead, Novavax's fall appears to be primarily a result of the overall stock market turmoil with all of the major market indexes sinking today.
So what
It's usually difficult for any stock to overcome the downdraft of the broader market. That's especially the case for Novavax. Shares of the vaccine stock were already down more than 80% from the 52-week high even before today's sell-off.
Novavax's risks go beyond the worries about inflation and rising interest rates that are hurting the stock market. There's considerable uncertainty about the future demand for COVID-19 vaccines, especially with a supply glut in some parts of the world.
But Novavax certainly has an opportunity to bounce back. It could perhaps do so sooner and more strongly than most stocks will. The company has several potential catalysts on the way.
Image source: Getty Images.
Now what
The most immediate of those catalysts is a June 7 meeting of a key Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee. The panel will review Novavax's Emergency Use Authorization filing for its COVID-19 vaccine NVX-CoV2373. A positive recommendation from the advisory committee would likely set the stage for FDA authorization of the vaccine.
Novavax also awaits a decision by the European Medicines Agency to expand authorization for NVX-CoV2373 to include use as a booster in people 18 or older. The company submitted its request for this expansion last week.
