Soon a new competitor in the field of vaccines against Covid-19? After Pfizer/BioNtech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca, the Franco-Austrian laboratory Valneva is currently testing its anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccine (called VLA2001).
Good news, the Franco-Austrian laboratory Valneva announces results on Monday October 18 positive initials as part of its phase 3 trials. These results will need to be confirmed.
This announcement comes just over a month after the British government terminated its contract for 100 million doses.
The United Kingdom had however ordered 100 million doses to be delivered over 2021-2022 and the vaccine was to be delivered there as a priority, therefore before France. In its press release, the group specified that it will “increase its efforts with other potential customers to ensure that its inactivated vaccine can be used in the fight against the pandemic”.
The laboratory submitted its application for authorization to the British health authorities in August on August 23 and hopes “to have a vaccine that is more than 80% effective”.
Valneva vaccine: how does it work?
Unlike the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine (which works on the principle of messenger RNA) or the AstraZeneca vaccine (viral vector), the vaccine developed by the Valneva laboratory contains an inactivated virus.
Inactivated virus vaccines contain “the virus or bacteria carrying the disease, or one very similar to it“says the World Health Organization (WHO). The virus is inactivated”using chemicals, heat or radiation“: it cannot therefore cause the disease, but arouses a reaction of the immune system and therefore allows the production of specific antibodies.
Valneva vaccine: is it effective?
For the moment, no certainty. Phase 3 trials, intended to prove the real effectiveness of a treatment before a possible marketing, are still in progress. These tests are taking place in the United Kingdom: the Valneva laboratory has however launched a “an additional test” in early August 2021 in New Zealand, with people over 56.
In a press release published in early April 2021the Valneva laboratory claimed that its vaccine had enabled the production of antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus in more than 90% of participants (after two doses received) in phase 2 trials.
Valneva vaccine: when will it be available?
Valneva indicated on September 13 that the results of phase 3 trials – intended to prove the real effectiveness of a treatment before a possible marketing – “are expected at the beginning of the fourth quarter”. The lab hopesthat an initial authorization could be granted to it by the end of 2021“for the marketing of its vaccine.
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