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EMA accepts filing of marketing authorization application for Valneva’s inactivated COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate

20.05.2022

Valneva SE (Nasdaq: VALN; Euronext Paris: VLA), a specialty vaccine company, today confirmed that the European Medicines Agency (“EMA”) has accepted the filing of a marketing authorization application (MAA) for Valneva’s inactivated, whole-virus COVID-19 vaccine candidate, VLA2001. Acceptance of the MAA means VLA2001 is advancing from the rolling review process and beginning the formal review process by the EMA’s Committee for Human Medicinal Products (CHMP). If the CHMP accepts Valneva’s conditional marketing authorization application, the Company confirms it would expect to receive a positive CHMP opinion in June 2022.

If positive opinion is given by the CHMP, the European Commission (EC) will review the recommendation and provide a final decision on the MAA. If granted by the EC, the centralized marketing authorization would be valid in all European Union Member States as well as in Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway.

Thomas Lingelbach, Chief Executive Officer of Valneva, commented, “The EMA’s acceptance of the filing for VLA2001 is an important step toward product approval. We remain fully committed and dedicated to working jointly with the regulators, the European members states and the European Commission toward making a more traditional and established COVID-19 vaccine technology available to people in Europe.”

About VLA2001

VLA2001 is currently the only whole virus, inactivated, adjuvanted vaccine candidate in clinical trials against COVID-19 in Europe. It is intended for active immunization of at-risk populations to prevent carriage and symptomatic infection with COVID-19 during the pandemic and for routine vaccination including addressing new variants. VLA2001 may also be suited for boosting, as repeat booster vaccinations have been shown to work well with whole virus inactivated vaccines. VLA2001 is produced on Valneva’s established Vero-cell platform, leveraging the manufacturing technology for Valneva’s licensed Japanese encephalitis vaccine, IXIARO®. VLA2001 consists of inactivated whole virus particles of SARS-CoV-2 with high S-protein density, in combination with two adjuvants, alum and CpG 1018. This adjuvant combination has consistently induced higher antibody levels in preclinical experiments than alum-only formulations and shown a shift of the immune response towards Th1. CpG 1018 adjuvant, supplied by Dynavax Technologies Corporation (Nasdaq: DVAX), is a component of the US FDA- and EMA-approved HEPLISAV-B® vaccine. VLA2001’s manufacturing process, which has already been upscaled to final industrial scale, includes chemical inactivation to preserve the native structure of the S-protein. VLA2001 is expected to conform with standard cold chain requirements (2 to 8 degrees Celsius).

About Valneva SE

Valneva is a specialty vaccine company focused on the development and commercialization of prophylactic vaccines for infectious diseases with significant unmet medical need. The Company takes a highly specialized and targeted approach to vaccine development and then applies its deep understanding of vaccine science to develop prophylactic vaccines addressing these diseases. Valneva has leveraged its expertise and capabilities both to successfully commercialize two vaccines and to rapidly advance a broad range of vaccine candidates into and through the clinic, including candidates against Lyme disease, the chikungunya virus and COVID-19.

Media & Investor Contacts

Laëtitia Bachelot-Fontaine
VP Global Communications & European Investor Relations
M +33 (0)6 4516 7099
laetitia.bachelot-fontaine@valneva.com