Novavax ( NVAX ) shares more than doubled in intraday trading Friday after announcing a $1.2 billion deal to license its vaccine technology to French drugmaker Sanofi ( SNY ).

Sanofi to Pay Novavax Up to $1.2 Billion to License Vaccine Tech, Co-Develop New Products

Novavax agreed to license its vaccine technology for COVID-19 and other possible future vaccines to Sanofi, as well as co-develop a combination vaccine designed to prevent both COVID-19 and the flu. Sanofi agreed to pay Novavax $500 million upfront, with another $700 million in possible payments depending on developmental and regulatory milestones.

“Together, we can broaden access to both our COVID-19 vaccine and our adjuvant to ensure more individuals can benefit from the protection vaccines can provide,” Novavax Chief Executive Officer (CEO ) John C. Jacobs said in a statement. “Novavax is now in a stronger position to refocus our efforts on leveraging our technology platform and novel adjuvant in R&D and pipeline expansion to help advance our mission of developing life-saving vaccines to fight infectious diseases.”

The deal will allow Novavax to lift its “going concern” warning , Jacobs told CNBC. The company first issued the warning in early 2023 over concerns that it may not be able to financially survive as demand for COVID-19 vaccines waned.

As part of the deal, Sanofi is also taking a less than 5% equity stake in Novavax, and Novavax will receive royalty payments for future sales of its COVID-19 vaccine and the future combination COVID-19 and flu vaccine.

Novavax Q1 Results Miss Estimates

Alongside the Sanofi deal, Novavax also reported first-quarter results Friday morning that missed analyst estimates.

Novavax reported revenue for the first quarter of $93.9 million, shy of the $101.3 million analysts expected, according to estimates compiled by Visible Alpha. Novavax posted a loss of $147.6 million, or $1.05 per share, wider than the loss of $127.4 million, or 90 cents per share, that analysts projected.

Revenue increased by about $13 million from last year’s first quarter, while it effectively cut its net loss in half from last year’s mark of $293.9 million.

For the full fiscal year, Novavax lowered its projected revenue to $400 million to $600 million, down from the previous range of $800 million to $1 billion. However, the estimated $570 million the company expects to receive from Sanofi this year pushed its combined revenue and payments projections higher, to $970 million to $1.17 billion.

The company also said it is prepared to introduce a cost-cutting program over the next year, with goals of reducing its combined costs of research and development (R&D) and selling, general, and administrative expenses (SG&A) to below $500 million by the end of fiscal 2025. For fiscal 2024, Novavax projects that those expenses will be within a range of $700 million to $750 million.

Novavax shares were up over 120% by 10:30 a.m. ET Friday to $9.90.