Covid vaccine firm backed by ministers halts production
Orders collapse after £4m of public money
A pharmaceutical firm given millions of pounds by Scottish Enterprise to develop and produce a Covid vaccine has suspended its manufacture.
Scottish Enterprise awarded French firm Valneva £12.5 million specifically to develop and make its Covid vaccine in February after Nicola Sturgeon held talks with chief executive Thomas Lingelbach. Another £7.5m was promised to support development of vaccines for other diseases at the plant in West Lothian.
However, after drawing down £4.3m of the cash, the firm has been forced to halt production of the Covid vaccine after an order for 60 million doses from the European Commission was cut to just 1.25m.
Lingelbach told The Post that manufacture of the Covid vaccine has been suspended after orders from the UK and European Union were slashed. He said: “We have suspended manufacturing following a situation where the order got cut back drastically.
Because we have a lot of inventory already produced, and in the absence of further commercial demand, we cannot continue as a small company manufacturing at risk.”
The Scottish plant was set up with the support of £214m in nonrefundable payments from the UK Government linked to a deal to supply 100m doses. That order was cancelled in September, however, and there are currently millions of doses in storage with a shelf life of 15 to 24 months.
The first minister visited the plant in March to be briefed on work at the company’s Livingston site, which has 200 staff, and its Covid vaccine VLA2001.
It is the only approved wholevirus vaccine, meaning the live virus is grown in a lab, rendered unable to infect cells, then administered to people over two doses 28 days apart. Research suggests it as effective as the Oxford AstraZeneca jag.
However, Valneva has struggled to sell its existing stock with only the European Commission and Bahrain committing to relatively small orders, leaving around eight million doses in storage, according to Lingelbach. He blames oversupply of vaccines
A drug that protects people with weakened immune systems from the most severe impact of Covid has been shelved in the UK until watchdogs are satisfied it works against the Omicron variant.
Charities that support patients with compromised immune systems have criticised the UK Government’s decision not to buy stocks of Evusheld, saying thousands of people will have no choice but to shield.
It was approved by the UK regulator, the MHRA, in March and manufacturer AstraZeneca says there is ample research data to prove it is effective but the Department for Health wants evidence of longer protection against Omicron.