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Summary
- Valneva SE has started commercial manufacturing of its Covid-19 vaccine in Scotland.
- Following the development, shares of Euronext Paris-listed Valneva soared nearly 9 per cent in the intraday trade.
- The Valneva vaccine is in the Phase 1/2 clinical trial stage.
French biotech firm and vaccine maker Valneva SE (EPA: VLA) said that the company has started commercial manufacturing of its Covid-19 vaccine in Scotland. With the large-scale production of Covid-19 vaccine, Valneva is likely to manufacture up to 60 million shots by the end of 2021, which will be subject to the regulatory approval.
The government has an option to acquire another 130 million jabs from Valneva if the jab is found to be suitable, effective, and safe for large-scale inoculation.
The UK government-controlled Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has already secured 60 million jabs from Valneva. The mass-scale production of Covid-19 vaccine will be done at the Livingston site of Valneva in West Lothian, Scotland.
Meanwhile, the bulk of AstraZeneca-Oxford University vaccine is being manufactured in Oxfordshire and Staffordshire with vial-filling being done in North Wales.
Valneva’s vaccine candidate
In 2020, the UK government made a joint investment at the Valneva’s Livingston facility with an intention to secure early access to Valneva’s Covid-19 vaccine by end of 2021. The large-scale production at the Livingston facility is expected to support 100 new jobs for highly skilled scientists and technicians, nearly doubling the workforce.
The onset of a permanent vaccine manufacturing unit in Scotland is likely to bolster the resilience of UK in handling the current and future pandemic-like situations, putting Scotland at the forefront of the UK’s fight against coronavirus.
With the availability of AstraZeneca-Oxford University and Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccines, the UK is aiming to widen its inoculation drive in the upcoming weeks. With more than a month-and-half into the vaccination programme, the UK administration has already inoculated 7,164,387 people with the first dose of vaccine, while 474,156 individuals have received the second dose as on 26 January.
The vaccine being developed by Valneva is underway in the Phase 1/2 trials following which it is required to exhibit the expected and predefined levels of safety and the standards of effectiveness. The UK stands right to roll out vaccines across the widespread geography more quickly if Valneva receives an approval from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
(Source: EODHD/Others, Thomson Reuters)
Valneva shares soar
Following the development, shares of Euronext Paris-listed Valneva soared nearly 9 per cent in the intraday trade in the wee hours of trading on Thursday, 28 January. According to the data available with the exchange, the stock of Valneva rallied as much as 8.98 per cent to EUR 9.95 after opening at EUR 9.91 from the previous close of EUR 9.13.
Soon after hitting an intraday peak, the stock wiped off most of the gains. At around 0204 GMT+1, the stock of Valneva was trading at EUR 9.21, up 0.88 per cent. Valneva shares have soared nearly 22 per cent in the last one month and have registered a cumulative rise of 341 per cent from the yearly closing low of EUR 2.07 as on 13 March 2020.
Leaders’ take
The Livingston facility getting equipped for mass production vaccine is yet another fantastic example of the strength of the union with the vaccine unit set to deliver millions of more shots across all four nations, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said.
Valneva CEO Thomas Lingelbach has thanked the UK Vaccines Taskforce and National Institute for Health Research for expediting the enrolment of vaccine volunteers for clinical trials.
With the vast scale of production at the Livingston facility, the UK stands ready to produce up to 250 million doses of vaccines a year for shipment across the country and the rest of the world, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said.
