By Gnaneshwar Rajan and Maggie Fick
(Reuters) -U.S.-based vaccine maker Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) said on Wednesday it will sell its manufacturing facility in the Czech Republic to Wegovy maker Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO) for $200 million and use the proceeds for its vaccine pipeline.
Novavax, which is heavily focused on COVID-19 vaccines, has struggled to keep pace with rivals Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) and Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), and last year raised doubts about its ability to stay in business.
The divestiture of the Czech facility follows its at least $1.2 billion deal to license its COVID-19 vaccine to French drugmaker Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY) in exchange for the latter taking a near 5% stake in the firm.
Novavax shares have risen about 88% since the Sanofi deal in May.
"The decision to sell the Czech Republic manufacturing facility aligns with our previously announced commitment to evolve Novavax into a more lean and agile organization focused on partnering our pipeline assets and technology platform," CEO John Jacobs said in a statement.
Novavax expects the sale of the unit to cut annual operating costs by about $80 million.
A spokesperson for Novo Nordisk declined to disclose which drugs it would produce at the Czech site, but said its production platform was different to that used for making its obesity drug Wegovy and diabetes drug Ozempic.
The approximately 300 employees currently working at the Novavax site will transfer to Novo Nordisk as part of the deal, Novo said.
Novo is spending billions of dollars to increase its manufacturing capacity for its blockbuster medicines Wegovy and Ozempic.