Valneva in $1.6-Bn COVID-19 Vaccine Pact with UK Government

Valneva, a Saint-Herblain, France-headquartered vaccine company, has entered into an agreement with the UK government to provide up to 190 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, VLA2001, over a five-year period, in a deal worth up to $1.6 billion.

Under the agreement, if vaccine development is successful, Valneva will provide 60 million doses of its vaccine to the UK government in the second half of 2021 at a cost of EUR 470 million ($556 million). The UK government then has options for over 40 million doses in 2022 and a further 30 million to 90 million doses, in aggregate, across 2023 to 2025 with these options amounting to almost EUR 900 million ($1.06 billion).

Valneva’s inactivated vaccine for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is expected to have a two-dose regimen. The vaccine is expected to enter clinical studies at the end of 2020, and if the clinical development is successful, a first regulatory approval may be granted in the second half of 2021.

The UK government is also investing upfront in the scale-up and development of the vaccine with the investment being recouped against the vaccine supply under the partnership. The agreement follows the initial intent to participate in the UK government’s COVID-19 vaccine response announced in July (July 2020).

Valneva says the vaccine will be produced using an existing manufacturing platform used to produce its Japanese encephalitis vaccine, which is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration and European Medicines Agency approved

Valneva had previously announced an agreement with the UK government for the supply of vaccine doses and a binding preliminary agreement to support expansion of its UK-based manufacturing facilities.

In a separate development, Valneva formed a commercial partnership with Dynavax, a Berkeley, California-based vaccines company, for the supply of Dynavax’s CpG 1018 adjuvant for use in Valneva’s COVID vaccine.

Dynavax will supply CpG 1018 to produce up to 100 million doses of vaccine in 2021. Valneva has the option to purchase up to an additional 90 million doses through 2025. This commercial supply partnership follows Valneva and Dynavax’s initial collaboration to advance COVID-19 vaccine development, announced in April 2020.

Source: Valneva (UK government), Valneva (Dynavax), and Dynavax

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *