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Shares in Novavax doubled after Sanofi struck a licensing deal worth up to $1.2bn to commercialise the struggling Covid-19 vaccine maker’s coronavirus jab and use the technology to develop its own combined shot with flu.

Novavax shares were up about 100 per cent in Friday afternoon trading in New York at $8.86, moderating from a gain of as much as 146 per cent earlier in the session, following the announcement. The agreement also prompted the US biotech to remove a “going concern” notice that was issued a year ago and had put pressure on the stock.

The partnership strengthens Sanofi, one of the world’s largest vaccine makers by sales, in the post-pandemic Covid jab market, where pharmaceutical groups are increasingly focused on combined shots against two or more infectious diseases.

Under the agreement, Paris-based Sanofi would lead the sales push of Novavax’s Covid jab from next year in most countries and have the rights to combine the US biotech’s protein-based vaccine technology with its flu shots and other infectious disease jabs, the companies said on Friday.

Novavax will receive an upfront payment of $500mn in cash and an equity investment, and will stand to receive the remaining $700mn upon the completion of certain regulatory and development milestones.

Sanofi will take a roughly 5 per cent stake in Novavax. Novavax will also benefit from a double-digit percentage of royalties from the sales of its Covid jab as well as any combined shot using its technology, but Sanofi will take the majority of revenues.

“We’re excited by the prospect of combining Novavax’s adjuvanted Covid-19 vaccine that has shown high efficacy and favourable tolerability, with our rich portfolio of differentiated flu vaccines that have demonstrated superior protection against flu and its serious complications,” said Jean-François Toussaint, who heads Sanofi’s vaccine research and development.

Touissant said the combined shot would offer patients “enhanced convenience and protection against two serious respiratory viruses”. Sanofi had a Covid booster vaccine approved by the European Medicines Agency in 2022 but it has struggled to make a dent in the market.

The licensing agreement caps a tumultuous period for Novavax, whose market value boomed to more than $40bn at the height of the pandemic, propelled by investor excitement over its Covid shot. But it has since had most of its value wiped out.

The vaccine maker has undertaken a $1.1bn cost-cutting drive in the past year to stave off a possible bankruptcy and has faced pressure from an activist investor for a board shake-up.

Novavax suffered from a series of mis-steps with the launch of its Covid vaccine, which was late to market because of a sluggish approval process. It then faced collapsing demand as governments withdrew from procurement deals.

Its vaccine, a more traditional protein-based formulation combined with an adjuvant to boost its effectiveness, has been pitched to patients as a counterpoint to mRNA jabs from BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna that have inspired vaccine scepticism over rare side effects. But sales have lagged.

“Novavax is now in a stronger position to refocus our efforts on leveraging our technology platform and novel adjuvant,” said John Jacobs, Novavax chief executive.

Novavax will still be allowed to press ahead with the development of its combined Covid-flu shot, which is set to enter late-stage trials in the second half of this year.

Friday, March 29, 2024 Tucson, Arizona —Juan Ciscomani poses for a portrait at his offices in Tucson, Arizona on Friday, March 29, 2024. CREDIT: Ash Ponders for NPR MEArizona—

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Friday, March 29, 2024 Tucson, Arizona —Juan Ciscomani poses for a portrait at his offices in Tucson, Arizona on Friday, March 29, 2024. CREDIT: Ash Ponders for NPR MEArizona—

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Juan Ciscomani made history in 2022, when he became the first naturalized U.S. citizen born in Mexico to represent Arizona in Congress.

He became a citizen in 2006 after moving to the U.S. with his family when he was 11 years old.

“I’m proud to be an immigrant,” Ciscomani told NPR’s Steve Inskeep during an interview with Morning Edition. “I’m proud of the journey that we traveled, to be here.”

Ciscomani, a Republican, represents Arizona’s 6th Congressional District. His district sits at the border between Mexico and the United States. The border, and the hundreds of thousands of migrants arriving there, many requesting asylum, is a key issue for his district.

Ciscomani said he speaks to people every day who have been frustrated by trying to get some form of legal status in the U.S. that isn’t asylum and how long it takes.

“They’re desperate because of how long it’s taking, ” Ciscomani said. “While the border seems to be or actually is wide open for people to just cross it illegally.”

Here’s what he had to say about Biden’s border policies, his own beliefs about immigration, and why he stands with the Republican policies for fixing the crisis at the border.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity

Steve Inskeep: When did you become a Republican?

Juan Ciscomani: The moment that I registered to vote at 26, that’s the day that I signed the paperwork to become a Republican. I knew beforehand that I was conservative. I knew my values.

Inskeep: You’re hardly the only Latino Republican there. Lots. But what do you make of the fact that most people of your background vote for Democrats?

Ciscomani: Well, you’re right. It’s a growing number. The first time that I interned on Capitol Hill, there were three Hispanic Republicans in Congress. Now there’s now we have an organization of 18 of us that are Hispanic Republicans in the United States Congress. That number is growing. It should grow even more.

What I’m seeing, though, is an acknowledgement that those policies aren’t working for us. If you think about why people come here, if you ask my parents, it’s like, hey, why did you make the move? They’ll probably give you three main reasons. They’ll say a better job for us, the parents, better education for the kids, and safe streets. That hasn’t been the focus of many in the Democratic Party.

Friday, March 29, 2024 Tucson, Arizona —Juan Ciscomani poses for a portrait at his offices in Tucson, Arizona on Friday, March 29, 2024.

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Friday, March 29, 2024 Tucson, Arizona —Juan Ciscomani poses for a portrait at his offices in Tucson, Arizona on Friday, March 29, 2024.

Ash Ponders/Ash Ponders for NPR

Inskeep: Immigration is one of the issues that are on people’s minds in 2024. Do you assume that in your district, immigration policy will be decisive for at least some voters?

I’m not assuming. We know that for a fact. Wherever I go, this is the issue that’s on top of people’s minds. And it wasn’t always the case. Even though we’re a border district, a border state and immigration and border security has always been of interest and a priority for my district, It wasn’t always top. You know, you have other issues. Obviously, the economy, you have education, many other issues that are still important. But with the rise of the crisis and what’s happening, it’s just become a reality for people that are now impacting their daily lives. Issues like street releases of migrants wasn’t something that kept people up at night a few years ago. Now, if you talk to county officials, that is the issue. And having funding for that and and making sure that that we don’t have 1000 releases a day is what keeps them up.

Inskeep: As you probably know, there are a number of Republicans and people on the right who will offer a theory that Democrats are encouraging immigration, including illegal immigration, because they want them to become voters for them someday. Do you believe that?

You know the reasons why the Democrats have allowed this and why Joe Biden has allowed this? I can’t answer that. I wish I could because it’s so mind boggling to me why someone would allow this. Initially, you could think that it’s incompetence, but honestly, that claim can only go so far. You can be this incompetent to not realize what’s happening. This is an election year and even in an election year when President Biden is facing the lowest approval numbers ever and border security and immigration is the number one issue, that issue has failed at the hands of Democrats. He’s still not doing anything about it.

It’s unprecedented what has happened. Even Barack Obama at least pretended to care about border security. We thought President Obama was lagging on the enforcement side until, of course, came Biden. And he showed what really not caring about the border looks like. So the reasons and the theories and the speculations can be out there, but you just got to see where they’re going. They’re going to states where people are leaving those states like, you know, California or Illinois or New York. That’s where the majority of these migrants ended up landing. Which is bad for the communities there, but it’s bad for the country overall.

Inskeep: Trump has even connected immigrants in this country to his election difficulties. He had a theory that he lost the popular vote in 2016 because illegal immigrants voted no evidence of that whatsoever. Is he scapegoating immigrants?

Listen, I’m not going to speculate on the comments of the president or even try to interpret what he meant by those things. My border state is seeing the consequences of that and we need to stop it. The policies that President Trump had three years ago, three and a half years ago, did not cause any of this. Not one legislative law has changed now. Every change that Joe Biden has done, he’s done it through executive order. And those changes have cost where we are today. So what we cannot do is continue to govern this country by executive order. I am glad that President Trump did what he had to do on the border by executive order because he didn’t have the support of Congress to make sure that we supported the border. But he did it by executive order, which we learned is not sustainable because the next president can come in and change everything on day one, which is what Joe Biden did. And cost is the worst crisis in American history on the border.

The audio version of this story was produced by Lilly Quiroz. The digital version was edited by Obed Manuel.

Eurovision organisers are braced for thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters to flood the Swedish city of Malmö this weekend to protest against Israel’s participation in the song contest.

This year will be the most politically charged event in its history after Israel’s contestant Eden Golan qualified for Saturday’s final.

The broadcasting union that runs the contest maintains Eurovision is “a unifying force, bringing together nations and cultures through the power of music”. But while the annual party often carries an undertone of geopolitics — and has included Israel for half a century — Israel’s involvement this year has increased tensions amid the country’s offensive in Gaza.

Heavily armed police have been deployed to monitor the pro-Palestinian protests in the Eurovision Village, which serves the 100,000 fans expected to descend on Sweden’s third-largest city for the event.

On Thursday, ahead of Golan’s semi-final performance, thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters — including climate activist Greta Thunberg — staged demonstrations in the city. Golan, who was booed by audience members during dress rehearsals, said she was focused on “giving the best performance”.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that the singer had “already succeeded . . . you face a wave of antisemitism while standing and representing the State of Israel with respect”.

The tensions have already coloured the competition. Ireland’s contestant, nonbinary “goth gremlin” Bambie Thug who has already qualified for the final, said on Instagram they had been asked to remove pro-Palestinian body paint from their costume. The writing in a medieval script had included the words “Free Palestine” and “ceasefire”.

The European Broadcasting Union, which runs the event, has said it will bar flags and symbols apart from those of participating countries and the LGBT+ community.

Bambie Thug added in the post: “My heart and prayers are with the people of Palestine . . . I am anti-war, anti-occupation, anti-oppression and anti-killing of innocent civilians and children!!”

Hundreds of artists in each of the five Nordic countries including Sweden signed separate petitions earlier this year urging Eurovision to ban Israel from the competition, while many of the 26 artists performing in Malmö have faced social media abuse for taking part alongside the Israeli act.

Britain’s Eurovision artist Olly Alexander was among those who signed a letter in response to calls for a boycott, arguing instead for the “unifying power of music”.

Israel’s national security council urged its citizens not to travel to Malmö, calling it “an anti-Israel protest hub”. Israeli media reported that the Shin Bet security service advised Golan not to leave her hotel room for anything other than her performances.

She has already changed the words of the song “Hurricane”, initially called “October Rain”, after it was seen to refer to the devastating October 7 attacks by Hamas last year that killed 1,200 people and sparked the war in Gaza. Almost 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory offensive.

Earlier in the contest, Swedish singer Eric Saade was reprimanded by organisers after he wore a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf around his wrist during a performance.

Jean Philip De Tender, deputy director-general of the EBU, said the organiser acknowledged “the depth of feeling and the strong opinions that this year’s Eurovision Song Contest — set against the backdrop of a terrible war in the Middle East — has provoked”. 

But De Tender said online abuse and harassment of artists was “unacceptable and totally unfair, given the artists have no role” in deciding which broadcasters take part.

The EBU represents Europe’s broadcasters, including Israeli’s Kan, a member since 1957 and a participant in the song contest since 1973.

Eurovision is the latest cultural event to face controversy over the inclusion of Israel, with similar calls for a boycott at the Venice Biennale late last year and clashes over other film and artistic events in Europe.

The singing competition, which is broadcast to more than 200mn people worldwide, maintains it is “non-political” but is no stranger to being used for political motives. Pacts between groups of similarly minded or geographically close nations often ensure that their acts progress, while rivals are handed “nul points”.

Russia, a former participant, was banned a day after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Ukraine won the contest the following year, an outcome seen as an outpouring of support for the war-torn nation rather than the quality of its musical offering. Another political flashpoint was the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

In 2009, Georgia tried to submit a song “We Don’t Wanna Put In”, widely interpreted as a criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Organisers rejected the song.

After Israel was included in the 1970s, Arabic broadcasters refused to show Israeli artists and threatened not to show the contest at all in years when it was hosted by the Jewish state. Israel has won several times, including with transgender singer Dana International in 1998.

Local dynamics have compounded the pressure this year. Home to one of Sweden’s largest immigrant populations, many of them Muslims, Malmö has suffered from a reputation for antisemitic incidents. That culminated in videos of cars driving around the city celebrating Hamas’s attack on Israel in October, as well as protesters burning an Israeli flag next to Malmö’s synagogue in November.

Tensions have risen further since Swedish police allowed a couple — one of them wrapped in an Israeli flag — to burn a Koran at the weekend. Sweden’s successful bid to join Nato was delayed for more than a year over multiple incidents involving Koran burning by anti-Islam activists.

Malmö officials apologised this week after cleaning away pro-Palestinian graffiti ahead of the competition, saying it was “an unfortunate mistake”.

The contest’s organisers have also sought to defuse the situation. EBU boss Noel Curran said it was a “competition between public service broadcasters who are members of the EBU. It is not a contest between governments.”

Curran said the EBU had been aware “of the many voices calling to exclude Israel in the same way as we excluded the Russian broadcaster in 2022 “.

But he added: “Comparisons between wars and conflicts are complex and difficult and . . . not ours to make. In the case of Russia, the Russian broadcasters themselves were suspended from the EBU due to their persistent breaches of membership obligations and the violation of public service values.”