Valneva has announced that it is in ‘active discussions’ with a prospective partner for potentially funding the development of a second-generation COVID-19 vaccine that targets new variants of the virus.
The ongoing talks may continue for several months and may not lead to an agreement, the company outlined.
The company also announced that it is continuing discussions with ‘various governments’ and has initiated regulatory processes with additional regulatory authorities, so that it can send the remaining stocks of its current COVID-19 vaccine – VLA2001 – to international markets in the next twelve months.
Valneva further expects to report additional clinical data in the fourth quarter of 2022, notably heterologous booster data, which may potentially support the positioning of its inventory.
Thomas Lingelbach, Valneva’s chief executive officer, said: “As we are near the end of the third quarter of 2022, we are engaged in active discussions that are likely to continue in the coming months.
“We therefore plan to continue exploring these potential funding opportunities and will provide future updates if and when we enter into an agreement for further development of our COVID-19 vaccine programme.”
VLA2001 is a purified, inactivated and adjuvanted whole virus SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, that uses a similar approach to the flu vaccine.
Following administration of VLA2001, the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 and other viral surface antigens stimulate both neutralising and other functional binding antibodies, as well as cellular immune responses directed against the spike and other surface proteins, which are thought to help protect against COVID-19.
VLA2001 is the first COVID-19 vaccine to receive a standard marketing authorisation in Europe and the only whole virus, inactivated, adjuvanted COVID-19 vaccine to receive marketing authorisation in Europe for use as primary vaccination in people aged 18 to 50 years.
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) also recommended VLA2001 last month for all individuals aged 18 to 50 years.
The vaccine is not recommended for people aged 50 years and over, due to limited data on the immunogenicity of the vaccine in this age group. Similarly, there is no data on efficacy or safety for people below 18 years of age, and vaccination of this age group is therefore not currently recommended.
Valneva currently has agreements to supply VLA2001 to certain EU member states and the Kingdom of Bahrain. In light of current order levels and existing inventories, the company has suspended manufacturing of the vaccine, stating that it is retaining inventory for potential additional supply to these EU member states should demand increase.