French vaccine maker Valneva said on Monday it would supply the UK with up to 190 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine candidate, VLA2001, over a five-year period.
Under the agreement, and if the vaccine development is complete, Valneva will initially provide the UK government with 60 million doses in the second half of 2021 at the cost of 470 million euros ($556.90 million).
The UK government can then opt for more than 40 million doses in 2022 and a further 30 million-90 million doses, in total, between 2023 and 2025.
Revenue from these options could amount to almost 900 million euros, Valneva said, adding that the UK is also investing up-front to ramp up and develop the vaccine, which is expected to have a two-dose regimen.
To support the contract with the UK government, U.S. biopharmaceutical firm Dynavax will supply its CpG 1018 adjuvant to produce up to 100 million doses of Valneva's vaccine next year.
Valneva expects the vaccine candidate to enter clinical studies by the end of this year and potentially gain regulatory approval in the second half of 2021.
($1 = 0.8440 euros)
(Reporting by Sarah Morland in Gdansk, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
