Vaccine / Kovid-19: Valneva disappointed after his UK contract was terminated

Paris | The British government “terminated” its contract for a 100 million dose candidate vaccine from the Franco-Austrian laboratory Valneva against Kovid-19, a major disappointment to the group, which relied heavily on the order.

“The treaty contains a provision allowing the British government to terminate it. He further stated that Valneva had failed to fulfill its obligations, which made Valneva fiercely competitive,” Nantes (western France) said in a press release, without elaborating.

In contrast to COVID-19, Biotech is developing an inactivated virus vaccine that is more traditional than messenger RNA and is used exclusively for influenza vaccines each year.

The laboratory submitted a request in August to the British health authorities for authorization for its vaccine candidate VLA2001.

“Valneva worked tirelessly, and in collaboration with the” British Government “, invested its capabilities to the maximum, especially by tying up substantial resources and showing a very strong instinct to respond. [ses] Requests for appropriate vaccines for variants ”, highlights the lab on Monday.

The first person to support Valneva by placing an order in the United Kingdom: first for 60 million doses, then over 40 million, for 2021-2022.

The country “responded early, maybe we were already there, and they immediately relied on our inactivated vaccine. Those who responded earlier and provided us with constructive assistance. At the event, they took all the risks, “said Walneva CEO Frank Grimoud in an interview with AFP earlier this year.

Phase III results are still in progress

In late August, Biotech suggested that, based on the Phase I and II trials, it “expects the vaccine to be more than 80% effective.”

She recalled on Monday that the results of the Phase III trials – intended to prove the true effectiveness of treatment before possible marketing – are expected at the beginning of the fourth trimester.

These results are “part of the progressive submission of the VLA2001 Conditional Authorization Application File” to the UK Health Service. Subject to Phase III results and the agency’s approval, Valneva believes that “initial marketing authority for VLA2001 may be available by the end of 2021”.

The group is “fully engaged in the development” of its vaccine candidate and “enhances its efforts with other potential users to ensure that its inactivated vaccine can be used in this field. Fight the pandemic”.

In late August, Frank Grimoud also confirmed that talks with the European Union were “still in progress”.

In the first half of 2021, biotech tripled its net loss to 86 million euros. This is explained by the decline in sales of its commercial vaccines during the epidemic and by highlighting the large investment efforts against a range of candidate vaccines against Kovid-19, as well as against chikungunya and Lyme disease.

On the other hand, the group’s treasury more than halved on June 30 to 329.8 million euros, most notably linked to the British government’s partnership on the vaccine against COVID-19 and its IPO in New York last May.