Valneva COVID-19 vaccine begins manufacturing at Scotland plant

French specialty vaccine company Valneva (Euronext: VLA) saw its shares gain almost 5% to 9.58 euros by midday, after the company announced it has started commercial production of its inactivated, adjuvanted COVID-19 vaccine candidate, VLA2001, at its manufacturing plant in Livingstone, West Lothian, Scotland.

This was in parallel to the ongoing clinical studies, in order to optimize the timeline for potential deliveries of the vaccine. The Phase I/II clinical study is now fully enrolled and is expected to report initial results in April 2021.

VLA2001 is currently the only inactivated vaccine candidate in clinical trials against COVID-19 in Europe. A total of 150 healthy adults aged 18 to 55 years have been recruited for the Phase I/II study which commenced mid December 2020, the French biotech firm said, but gave no indication as to when it would apply for regulatory approval for VAL2001.