An agreement of up to 60 million doses of vaccine against the coronavirus by 2023 has been concluded between the Franco-Austrian laboratory Valneva and the European Commission, the two parties announced on Wednesday.
The contract provides for the possibility for all Member States to purchase nearly 27 million doses of the vaccine in 2022, says the Commission, with 33 million additional doses in 2023.
Breach of contract with London
The agreement with the European Union should be concluded “after a final examination, relating in particular to the volumes required, by each of the Member States of the European Union,” Valneva said in a press release. This is good news for the company, which was shaken in September when the British government terminated a contract for 100 million doses, then its only order.
In terms of timing, delivery of the vaccine to the EU is scheduled for April 2022, subject to approval by European authorities. The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use of the European Medicines Agency should soon begin the gradual review of data relating to VLA2001, the name of Valneva’s vaccine, the latter said.
Donations to poor countries considered
At present, “it is the only candidate vaccine with inactivated virus to be the subject of clinical trials” against the Covid in Europe, argued the European Commission in a press release, which has already concluded seven contracts with other producers for vaccines. “Member states could decide to donate the vaccine to low- and middle-income countries or redirect it to other European countries,” she added.
Valneva had reported in mid-October of “initial positive” results of its phase 3 clinical trials – the last before marketing – for its vaccine candidate, in a comparison with the AstraZeneca vaccine. In the wake of this announcement, the company’s stock soared 23% to nearly 22.50 euros on the Paris Bourse at around 1 p.m.: it thus returned to its levels of September, before the termination of the contract by UK.