For years, Dynavax’s Board has fruitlessly pursued a high-risk strategy to acquire, develop and commercialize a vaccine asset – diverting attention away from the Company’s priority of growing the market share of its lead asset, Heplisav.
Meanwhile, excess cash has piled up to nearly half the Company’s market cap, raising concerns it may fund a value-destroying deal.
Deep Track believes fresh, investor-aligned voices are needed on the Board to ensure capital decisions prioritize shareholder interests and maximize long-term value.
The Board has been focused on acquiring a pre-commercial vaccine asset and developing it, but Dynavax has no obvious edge in vaccine development or commercialization – each of which is an extremely complex undertaking.
Instead of pursuing high return initiatives to grow Heplisav or returning excess capital to maximize value for shareholders, the Board continues to sit on excess cash which has grown to half of Dynavax's market cap.
Even though Heplisav sales grew more than fourfold from 2021 to 2024, DVAX shares have returned -43% since Scott Myers became Chariman in Oct. 2021, reflecting shareholders' concerns with the Company's capital allocation strategy.
The Board's pressure on management to identify external assets is diverting focus away from Dynavax's best opportunity to create shareholder value: growing Heplisav's market share.