Advertisement

French-Austrian lab reports positive results from new Covid vaccine trials

The Local Austria
The Local Austria - [email protected]
French-Austrian lab reports positive results from new Covid vaccine trials
A doctor vaccinates a student at Ruth Cohn School on September 13 in Berlin at the start of a vaccination campaign called #HierWirdGeimpft (#Here We Vaccinate), on the sidelines of a visit by the German President to support the campaign. - Steinmeier (Photo by Odd ANDERSEN / AFP)

The French-Austrian lab Valneva said that its trial showed "positive" results for its vaccine against Covid-19, but has no guarantees it will be able to sell its jab.

Advertisement

The French government has said that the European Union was still in negotiations to buy the vaccine, after the UK government terminated its own supply deal last month, which is so far the only order for Valneva.

Valvena said its Phase 3 trial, conducted among 4,012 adults in Britain, showed "positive" results for the vaccine, providing more neutralizing antibodies than the shot made by British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca.

Advertisement

Valneva's VLA2001 vaccine is based on an "inactivated" version of the coronavirus itself to ward off Covid-19.

"This is a much more traditional approach to vaccine manufacture than the vaccines so far deployed in the UK, Europe and North America," said Adam Finn, professor of paediatrics at University of Bristol and the chief investigator.

"These results suggest this vaccine candidate is on track to play an important role in overcoming the pandemic," Finn said in a company statement.

Valneva's shares soared by more than 30 percent following the announcement. They had sunk after Britain cancelled its contract last month.

The company said it has begun the vaccine approval process with the UK's health regulator and is preparing to submit a request with the European Medicines Agency.

"We are committed to bringing our differentiated vaccine candidate to licensure as quickly as possible and continue to believe that we will be able to make an important contribution to the global fight against the Covid-19 pandemic," said Valneva CEO Thomas Lingelbach.

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

Anonymous 2021/10/18 19:49
UK says it won't get authorised in Britain. Must be some reason for that.
  • Anonymous 2021/10/19 18:43
    Where did you get that from. The UK has cancelled the supply agreement (no doubt for non supply!) that is not the same as authorising it for use.

See Also