The Austro-French company Valneva has developed a Covid 19 vaccine that does not work with mRNA technology, but on the dead vaccine method (inactivated whole virus vaccine) that has been used in other vaccines for many decades. The vaccine is in phase 3. The first test results from this crucial study are expected in October. Approval in the UK is expected later this year, with EU approval soon to follow. Great Britain has already bought 100 million cans and, according to a communication from the EU Commission, Valneva is in advanced negotiations with the EU on the purchase of up to 60 million cans. The doses of the EU are to be used primarily for booster vaccinations. The key point about the new vaccine: It’s a classic vaccine. This could make Valneva’s product an alternative for people who are skeptical about the novel vaccines. Thomas Lingelbach, CEO of Valneva: “I hope that with our vaccine we can address those two to three percent of people who, for whatever reason, have concerns about the novel vaccines and thus contribute to the vaccination coverage.”
Lingelbach explains the development of the Valneva vaccine in an interview with the Berliner Zeitung: “Our vaccine absorbs the virus in its natural form and kills it chemically. As a result, the virus retains its micro and macro structure, but is no longer able to reproduce. Our immune system reacts to the vaccine like a natural disease. This creates antibodies that protect us from infection. ”The technology used by Valneva corresponds to classic vaccines such as those against influenza, TBE or hepatitis. Lingelbach explains why his company was able to develop his vaccine called VLA2001: “The manufacture is very complex to produce. You need labs with security level 3 because working with the active virus has to be done very carefully. It is not easy to manufacture such a vaccine in large quantities. We have the necessary skills because we have been in this field for many years. In addition, the production times are relatively long, around 50 percent longer than with mRNA or vector vaccines. ”The challenge is to“ have to produce very large quantities in a very short time ”.
In terms of production, Valneva has the advantage that the company can use its existing production platform: Among other things, Valneva has developed a vaccine against Japanese encephalitis. Lingelbach: “Inactivated vaccines belong to the most reliable and safest vaccine classes of all.” Lingelbach says that one can “speak of luck that the development of mRNA-based vaccines at Sars Cov-2 succeeded so quickly”. But there are “question marks about the side effects”. VLA2001 could have a clear advantage here. Approximately 4,000 people in the UK are currently being tested in the UK phase 3 study.
Lingelbach: “The control group is vaccinated with AstraZeneca. Because the strict approval requirements require that we must be at least as effective as the vaccines that have already been approved. The effectiveness of AstraZeneca was over 70 percent, and I assume that we will achieve the same order of magnitude. ”Experience has shown that whole virus vaccines wear off after a few years, which is why they need to be refreshed. As the current experience with the other vaccines shows, the effect there is apparently even shorter – which is why Valneva should be competitive here.
Valneva is “one of the remaining small and medium-sized vaccine companies,” says Lingelbach. The company emerged from the Viennese Intercell and the French Vivalis. It currently employs 700 people, most of them in Vienna. The research and development department worked there – Intercell was a spin-off from the university, “the first listed biotech company in Austria,” as Lingelbach explains. Valneva’s Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing facility is in Scotland as the company has been backed by venture capital from the UK government. Lingelbach: “The British government is re-investing British tax money and, if successful, we will create several hundred additional jobs in Scotland.” London not only supports the company financially: the tests for the study are carried out in British state laboratories. Another production site is in Sweden. Valneva is also supported by the French sovereign wealth fund BPI. Investors are also the MVM funds and the French Groupe Grimaud.
The company, whose share price rose sharply in 2020, is currently still making losses. The approximately 130 million euros in sales from products as in 2019 are just the beginning, says Lingelbach. However, the CEO is hoping for a second breakthrough in addition to the Covid vaccine: Together with Pfizer, a vaccine against Lyme disease is entering phase 3 development. Valneva would be the first company that could offer a vaccine. Should the economic success set in, Valneva will probably be a takeover candidate for one of the large pharmaceutical companies. Lingelbach does not strive for this: “We can and want to grow on our own.”
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