The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has announced an accelerated review of approval of Valneva’s corona vaccine. Testing of the VLA2001 vaccine has already started, the Amsterdam-based EU authority announced on Thursday. When a decision on the dead vaccine from the Austro-French biotechnology company will be made is still open.
The dead vaccine from Valneva contains killed components of the coronavirus for immunization. It uses a technology similar to that of classic flu vaccines and should be able to be stored in normal refrigerators. In October, Valneva announced “positive” initial results from the phase 3 clinical trial with the vaccine. The agent was more effective than the AstraZeneca vaccine, it said, and “generally well tolerated”.
The EU Commission had already concluded a supply contract with Valneva prior to approval. As the commission announced just under a month ago, the agreement provides for the delivery of up to 60 million corona vaccine doses over the next two years, if the EMA actually allows the agent. When the contract was announced, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen emphasized that the vaccine could be adapted to new Corona variants. This could be important, not least in view of the new Omikron coronavirus variant.
No dead vaccine against Corona has yet been approved in the EU. The available vaccines are based on different methods. BioNTech / Pfizer and Moderna funds are manufactured using the novel mRNA technology, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson funds are vector vaccines. Traditional inactivated vaccines are of interest to people who have reservations about immunization with mRNA vaccines or vector vaccines.
The US pharmaceutical company Novavax applied for approval for its vaccine Nuvaxovid in mid-November. It is a recombinant protein vaccine. The EMA promised an accelerated examination, so that a decision could probably be announced in “a few weeks”.
According to Novavax, the agent has an effectiveness of around 90 percent. The EU Commission has already signed a purchase agreement with Novavax for up to 100 million vaccine doses this year and next. The contract also includes an option for 100 million more vaccine doses in 2021, 2022 and 2023.