French f irm to start making 60m doses of UK’s 4th vaccine
...before it’s even struck deal with the EU
IT WILL furnish Britain with 60 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine – our second largest supply after t he Oxford- AstraZeneca injection – but is yet to strike a deal with the EU or its native France.
Now French drugs firm Valneva is just ‘ days away’ from kickstarting manufacture of its jab on British soil, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
In a major boost for the UK’s vaccination drive, the company’s boss said he hopes Valneva’s Covid jab will be approved and ready to be administered into British arms by the summer or early autumn.
Chief executive Thomas Lingelbach said Valneva’s vaccine, which has been produced with financial aid from the UK Government, is about to go into mass production at its plant in Livingston, Scotland.
Britain has secured supply of 60 million doses at a cost of €470 million (£418 million) – enough to vaccinate 30 million people.
Valneva’s jab is administered in two doses 21 days apart – like Pfizer- BioNTech’s – although it does not require ultra-cold storage.
Early trials are taking place on 150 volunteers at four sites across England. The UK has the option to order up to 130 million further doses between 2022 and 2025, which would bring the cost to nearly €900 million (£800 million).
The French-headquartered firm’s jab is the second-largest Covid vaccine ordered by Government, after the 100 million dose Oxford-AstraZeneca jab. By contrast, the European Commission last week said a period of ‘exploratory talks’ with Valneva had concluded ‘with a view to purchasing its potential vaccine against Covid-19’. The EU is likely to order 30 million doses, with the option to buy a further 30 million.
However, the UK will be the ‘priority’ for Valneva, its boss said, leaving France, Germany and other countries in the bloc likely to receive their deliveries of the vaccine later. Valneva has previously said that its jab, which entered clinical trials in December, would not be available for use in the UK population until the last three months of the year.
However, Mr Lingelbach said conversations were under way with regulators to discuss the possibility of releasing the treatment at some point between July and September.
He told The Mail on Sunday: ‘We are days away from starting the commercial manufacturing… We cannot release it without regulatory approval so we’re in a little bit of a Catch-22 situation and there are certainly scenarios that we are currently discussing with the regulators… But we have already signed up to give priority to the UK and this is something we’re currently working on.’
The Government faced criticism last year for being under-prepared to deal with a mass viral outbreak across the country.
Mr Lingelbach said the investment in its Scottish plant had helped Britain bolster its defences against potential future pandemics. Crucially, he said he was confident that the injection would defend against mutant strains of Covid.
‘You can apply the identical manufacturing process for different virus mutations but also for other viruses that you need to be prepared for in the future,’ he said.
The next new Covid-19 vaccine available will be the jab from America’s Moderna which was approved by UK regulators earlier this month. The UK has ordered 17 million doses of it.
‘We have signed up to give priority to Britain’