The Franco-Austrian laboratory Valneva, which is developing a vaccine against Covid-19, has started examining it as a booster dose after a primary vaccination with a vaccine other than its own, he said in a press release. Tuesday.
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The company explains that it has launched booster vaccinations for adult participants for its phase 3 trial, the last step before potential commercialization.
This phase has two objectives.
On the one hand, it must provide additional data on the vaccination carried out after the first two doses of its own vaccine candidate, VLA2001.
Valneva had published encouraging initial data in mid-December for its serum as a booster dose in this configuration.
The popular booster segment
On the other hand, this new step should provide initial data on heterologous boosters, ie using VLA2001 after a primary vaccination carried out with another serum. While approximately 24 billion doses of vaccines will have been produced by mid-2022, laboratories are increasingly positioning themselves in the booster dose segment. In detail, a booster dose of VLA2001 will be evaluated in adults aged 18 and over who have received a primary vaccination with two doses of this same vaccine. It will also be assessed in participants, aged 30 and older, who have received two doses of AstraZeneca's vaccine. The booster dose of Valneva will be given at least seven months after the end of the primary series.
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Initial data is expected in the second quarter of 2022, specifies the laboratory, which indicates that these new data are not part of the elements required for the initial applications for marketing authorization.
In addition, Valneva plans to initiate a new trial dedicated solely to the heterologous recall of VLA2001 in the coming weeks.
Valneva continues to submit data from its clinical trial to the European Medicines Agency, as well as the UK and Bahrain agencies.
The Nantes-based biotech, whose vaccine uses proven inactivated virus technology, continues to expect market launch in the first quarter.