Valneva has entered into a settlement agreement with the UK Government in relation to the termination of the supply agreement for its Covid-19 vaccine candidate, VLA2001.
On 13 September, it received a termination notice from the government, after having begun the production process at its facility outside Livingston.
Some 100 million doses of the vaccine were put on order after the UK increased its request by 40 million last February.
Later last autumn, Health Secretary Sajid Javid told the House of Commons that the vaccine would not have gained UK regulatory approval.
Valneva's chief financial officer David Lawrence responded that the comments had a 'devastating impact' on the business - and that it was seeking an apology.
Soon after, former chairwoman of the country’s vaccine taskforce Dame Kate Bingham criticised the decision, stating it was not only a blow to international pandemic efforts, but would dampen the UK’s resilience to future disease outbreaks.
Yesterday's settlement resolves certain matters relating to the obligations of the company and the government, particularly in relation to the separate agreement relating to clinical trials of VLA2001 in the UK, which remains in place.
VLA2001 is currently the only whole virus, inactivated, adjuvanted vaccine candidate in clinical trials against Covid-19 in Europe. It is intended for active immunisation of at-risk populations. It may also be suited for boosting, as repeat booster vaccinations have been shown to work well with whole virus inactivated vaccines.
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