GAITHERSBURG, Md. and OSAKA, Japan, Aug. 07, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Novavax, Inc. (Nasdaq: NVAX), a late stage biotechnology company developing next-generation vaccines for serious infectious diseases, and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (TSE:4502/NYSE:TAK), today announced a partnership for the development, manufacturing and commercialization of NVX‑CoV2373, Novavax’ COVID‑19 vaccine candidate, in Japan. NVX‑CoV2373 is a stable, prefusion protein made using Novavax’ recombinant protein nanoparticle technology and includes Novavax’ proprietary Matrix‑M™ adjuvant. Takeda will receive funding from the Government of Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) to support the technology transfer, establishment of infrastructure and scale-up of manufacturing. Takeda anticipates the capacity to manufacture over 250 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine per year1.