Valneva sells chikungunya vaccine priority review voucher for $103 million

[February 05, 2024]  (Reuters) -French vaccine maker Valneva said on Monday it had sold the priority review voucher (PRV) it received from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for $103 million.

Valneva was awarded a tropical disease PRV in November 2023 after it developed Ixchiq, its single-dose vaccine for the prevention of the disease caused by the chikungunya virus, the company said.

Ixchiq was the first preventive shot to be approved in the United States for the mosquito-borne disease.

The chikungunya virus spreads to people through the bite of an infected mosquito. The most common symptoms are fever and joint pain. Other symptoms may include headache, muscle pain, joint swelling or a rash.

The FDA's tropical disease priority review voucher program is intended to encourage the development of new drugs for the prevention and treatment of tropical diseases. The vouchers shorten the review time of a new drug by six to 10 months; the buyer can apply it to a product they are developing.

The logo of French-Austrian biotech firm Valneva is seen outside their headquarters in Vienna, Austria, December 16, 2021. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner/File Photo

“As shown with the recent approval of our chikungunya vaccine, we remain committed to growing our portfolio of vaccines addressing unmet medical needs which have the potential to transform people’s lives,” Valneva's chief executive officer, Thomas Lingelbach, said in a news release.

The French company said it would invest proceeds from the sale into research and development projects, including the co-development of its Phase 3 vaccine candidate against Lyme disease and additional clinical trials for IXCHIQ.

(Reporting by Michal Aleksandrowicz in Gdansk; Editing by Edmund Klamann and Gerry Doyle)

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