About Stanley Erck
Stanley Erck, who served as CEO of Novavax until his retirement in early 2023, oversaw the company's transition from a clinical-stage biotech to a commercial vaccine manufacturer during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a January 2023 interview, Erck stated that the company had grown from fewer than 100 employees and less than $100 million in funding to over 2,000 employees and more than $1 billion in cash, and had generated $2 billion in revenue in 2022. He described the company's COVID-19 vaccine as "best-in-class" in terms of efficacy, safety, and stability, and noted that it had been approved in 47 countries. Erck also said the U.S. was "the last country" to approve the vaccine, and that the company was working with the FDA to expand its label for all age groups and booster use.
Throughout 2021 and 2022, Erck frequently discussed the company's manufacturing scale-up and global distribution strategy. He stated that Novavax had built manufacturing capacity in eight countries, including partnerships with the Serum Institute of India, and aimed to produce "a couple billion doses" per year. Erck emphasized the vaccine's advantages, including storage at refrigerated temperatures and a nine-month shelf life. He also noted that the company was developing a combined flu-COVID vaccine and an Omicron-specific variant vaccine. On the company's financial outlook, Erck projected full-year 2022 revenue of $4 to $5 billion, though the company later slashed that guidance by about 50% due to lower-than-expected demand, particularly from the COVAX facility.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Stanley Erck's recent appearances.
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Transcript (13 segments)
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Host0:01
Welcome back to Yahoo Finance Live. Vaccine maker Novavax has announced that long-time Chief Executive Stanley Erck is stepping down from his position later this month. Before doing so, he joins us with Yahoo Finance's Anjali Kamlani at the 41st annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference. Anjali, nice to see you.
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Anjali Kamlani0:23
Nice to see you too, Dave. And of course with me is the man himself, Stanley Erck, CEO of Novavax for just a little bit longer, who has seen the company through quite an adventure through this pandemic. So Stan, let's start off there. Really an interesting experience with Novavax in the last two years alone. Talk to us about that. What has that been like for you?
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Stanley Erck0:47
So I think I mentioned to you that today is actually the third anniversary of when the gene sequence for COVID-19 was unveiled on the internet. And we and others started right then, that day, shifting our efforts from what was a flu trial, a Phase 3 pivotal trial, over to COVID. And we had fewer than 100 people. We had less than 100 million dollars. We had enough money to get through the next five months, and we were focused on flu. Since then, we've gotten the COVID vaccine, which I believe is the best-in-class vaccine because of its efficacy, safety, and stability. We've done that in this three-year period. And now, the last year, we've gotten approved around the world, 47 different countries, all in the last 12 months. We are now at over 2,000 people. We have over a billion dollars in the bank. We have funding to take it through commercialization. We are now a commercial company for the first time. We had two billion dollars in revenue in 2022 for the first year, and that's pretty significant for us. First year commercial operation, and now we've got growth in the commercial operation that's going to take us past the pandemic stage, past the stage when I'm selling product just to governments, until we get into the retail world of the pharmacies.
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Anjali Kamlani2:16
Absolutely. And let's talk about that because clearly your market has been, to date, ex-US, right? That's just how the trajectory played out during the pandemic. Talk to me about what that means for the company now. How much more of a struggle it's going to be for the inroads that need to be made in order for the US market to recognize Novavax?
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Stanley Erck2:35
Yeah, so the US has been last to cover and recognize, to get the product licensed, to get it approved. And so we're just now there. We have to work with the FDA to expand the label so that we have it for all age groups and all boosting. But we're doing that, and so we'll get it done. It's too bad that it was the last country to do that, but nevertheless, that's behind us. And so we have a commercial organization that is, as we speak, educating the pharmacies of the US on what this is. And so what we expect is that by the second half of this year, when we start looking at a fall vaccination, just like for flu, a fall vaccination for COVID or respiratory disease, we'll be ready and be able to commercialize it as a normal vaccine for the company moving forward.
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Anjali Kamlani3:36
You now have a commercial product. Someone new coming in to take the reins. What's plans for Stan?
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Stanley Erck3:43
I haven't had time to plan for Stan, and so Stan doesn't have a plan.
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Anjali Kamlani3:50
Hopefully we'll see you back out there. You've clearly had a long history in the space. This is your 30th year at JPM. How would you rate this one versus the previous one?
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Stanley Erck4:00
Well, it's a bit quieter. It's a sleepier JP Morgan than I'm used to, but in some ways that's good. So I get to see people, old friends, and so it's good.
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Anjali Kamlani4:12
Well, Stan, best of luck in everything that you do, and hopefully we'll see you around.
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Stanley Erck4:16
You will.
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Host4:18
That's Stanley Erck, CEO of Novavax. Back to you guys.
All right, thanks so much. And of course, thanks to Stanley as well.
