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tried-and-true vaccine technology

As the battle with Covid-19 rages around the world, a small French biotech has a possible solution for the long-term war against the virus and the rapidly spreading mutations.

The company, Valneva SE, has a vaccine that could be more variant-proof, giving it an edge over other shots in what may be an annual campaign against a disease that’s already killed more than 3 million people. The first participant in its phase three trials will be dosed this week. If successful, that could lead to an approved shot in the fall.

Valneva’s shot is the only candidate in clinical trials in Europe that uses a tried-and-true vaccine technology involving an inactivated version of the whole virus it’s targeting. Inactivated vaccines — a century-old approach adopted for flu and polio — take a sample of the disease that has been killed and use it to stimulate an immune response without creating infection.
With all the other Covid-19 vaccines in the region focused on the virus’s spike protein, the shot could protect against variants that might compromise others, making it the perfect booster.

the company already has a deal with the U.K. to supply up to 190 million doses. Kate Bingham, former head of the U.K.’s Vaccine Taskforce, says that if the shot is successful it will probably be used as a winter booster for older adults.

“Having that broader antigenic real estate from a whole virus vaccine really matters,” she said. “Viruses mutate. So by having a broader immune response, which you get with a whole vaccine, you can potentially provide that ongoing protection.”

The healthcare implications in a post-Covid world are huge. And for Valneva, with a $100 million listing planned on Nasdaq this year, the financial stakes are high. The U.K. contract is worth up to 1.4 billion euros ($1.7 billion), more than 10 times its annual revenues last year.

The company said Thursday that it will sell about 7.1 million shares in the offering, and use the proceeds to fund the Covid vaccine as well as the development of other products in its pipeline.

The path to success is not straightforward, though. Due to the more onerous development involved with an inactivated approach, the Valneva vaccine was always going to be later into the clinic than other shots, which means its advanced trials are starting in the U.K. when more than half the country has already been vaccinated.

As a result, the vaccine is being tested head-to-head with a shot from AstraZeneca Plc and the University of Oxford, rather than a dummy placebo, and must show an equal or superior antibody response.





https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-29/a-french-biotech-says-inactivated-vaccines-are-the-way-to-fight-covid-variants?cmpid
Question: if true and a potentially effective vaccine why isn’t the US creating and using the same medical expertise and approach to this virus as the French are?
MrBrownstone · 46-50, M
Is it more effective than washing your hands?

 
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