French biotech firm Valneva said on Thursday that its COVID-19 The vaccine candidate was efficient as a booster for those who had received the same shot as the initial vaccination.
“The early results confirm that VLA2001 significantly enhanced immunity in participants receiving VLA2001 as a primary vaccination,” it said in a statement.
The news comes nearly two weeks after a British study found that VLA2001 was the only shot out of seven that did not offer any immunity boost when given to people already immunized with Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.
That study showed a 14.5% drop in Valneva’s share price on December 3. At Wednesday’s closing price of 22.36 euros, the stock is still up 188.5% since the start of the year after a 201.5% increase in 2020.
Valneva, in response to that study, said that participants were given booster doses at shorter intervals than usual and that vaccines made from inactivated virus, such as its candidate, usually require more time to be effective. “The company is preparing to launch a dedicated heterogeneous booster trial, which will evaluate a VLA2001 booster shot provided at least six months after primary vaccination or natural infection with other vaccines. This study will begin in early 2022. is expected to be.”
Juan Carlos Jaramillo, Chief Medical Officer of Valneva, said: “We are extremely pleased to report our first booster data, confirming that VLA2001 significantly enhanced immunity in participants receiving VLA2001 as a primary vaccination and that the initial regardless of neutralizing antibody level”. in the statement.
“Our teams are working diligently on our rolling review regulatory submissions so that we can quickly deploy our vaccine (…),” he said.
The EU drug regulator said in early December that it had begun a rolling review of Valneva’s vaccine – which could expedite approval, weeks after the EU signed a supply agreement with the company.
Unlike shots from Pfizer-BioNtech, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, and Novavax, Valneva completely boosts the immune system. coronavirus, not just its spike protein.
Valneva has said that she hopes its vaccine candidate will protect people from types of the virus, testing it specifically against Omicron.
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