Maryland-based Novavax missed its moonshot but is angling to win over mRNA doubters with its COVID vaccine

Novavax hitched its wagon to the coronavirus pandemic. Before most Americans truly grasped the scope of the danger, the small Maryland biotech startup had secured $1.6 billion in U.S. funding for its COVID vaccine. Its moonshot goal: deliver 2 billion shots to the world by mid-2021. Although the U.S. commitment eventually expanded to $1.8 billion, hardly any Novavax shots have found arms due to manufacturing problems, and most of the world has moved on. Novavax stock has plummeted from $290 a share in February 2021 to around $50 recently.