The UK Government has exercised its option to order 40 million doses of Valneva SE’s inactivated, adjuvanted COVID-19 vaccine candidate for supply in 2022.

This brings the total volume of the Valneva vaccine ordered by UK Government to 100 million doses and the UK Government retains options over a further 90 million doses for supply between 2023 and 2025. The total value of the 190 million doses, if all options are exercised, is up to €1.4 billion ($1.7 billion). Valneva has commenced production in parallel to the ongoing clinical studies in order to optimize the timeline for potential deliveries of the vaccine. The Phase 1/2 clinical study is now fully enrolled and is expected to read out within the next three months.

Interim chair of the UK government’s Vaccines Taskforce Clive Dix commented, “Valneva’s manufacturing site in Scotland is already up and running, ready to supply their promising vaccine as soon as it has proven to be safe, and effective and is approved by the MHRA. To best ensure we have enough successful candidates to ensure maximum coverage of the UK population, the Vaccines Taskforce has invested in seven of the most promising vaccines. The further 40 million doses secured through today’s deal significantly bolsters our portfolio and gives us future flexibility should we need to revaccinate any of the UK population. I want to thank everyone involved in the development of this vaccine for the hard work that has helped us reach this point and also to pay tribute to those UK citizens who have volunteered to take part in the important clinical trials of this vaccine.”

Thomas Lingelbach, chief executive officer of Valneva added, “We are very pleased to extend our supply commitment to the UK. Assuming success, we believe that our vaccine, which has commenced commercial production at our site in Scotland, can make a major contribution to the UK’s vaccination efforts later this year as well as in 2022. This new development in our partnership underlines the need for our inactivated vaccine approach and we will continue to work closely with the Vaccines Task Force on execution.”

Valneva announced its partnership with the UK Government in September 2020 and that it is in advanced discussions with the European Commission, regarding supply of up to 60 million doses, on January 12, 2021.