Health Canada Accepts Valneva’s Chikungunya Vaccine License Application for Review - Seite 2

The vaccine was granted PRIority MEdicine (PRIME) designation by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in 2020 and also received FDA Fast Track, Breakthrough Therapy and Priority Review designations in 2018, 2021 and 2023 respectively.

About Chikungunya
Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne viral disease caused by the chikungunya virus (CHIKV), a Togaviridae virus, transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes. Infection leads to symptomatic disease in up to 97% of humans after four to seven days following the mosquito bite. While mortality with CHIKV is low, morbidity is high, and the global market for vaccines against chikungunya is estimated to exceed $500 million annually by 2032¹⁰. Clinical symptoms include acute onset of fever, debilitating joint and muscle pain, headache, nausea, rash and chronic arthralgia. Chikungunya virus often causes sudden large outbreaks with high attack rates, affecting one-third to three-quarters of the population in areas where the virus is circulating. The high-risk areas of infection for travelers are places where chikungunya virus-carrying mosquitos are endemic, including the Americas, parts of Africa, and Southeast Asia, and the virus has spread to more than 110 countries¹¹. As of July 2022, more than three million cases have been reported in the Americas¹² and the economic impact is considered to be significant. The medical and economic burden is expected to grow as the CHIKV primary mosquito vectors continue to spread geographically. There are no preventive vaccines or effective treatments available and, as such, chikungunya is considered to be a major public health threat.

About VLA1553
VLA1553 is a live-attenuated, single dose investigational vaccine candidate targeting the chikungunya virus, which has spread to over 110 countries¹³. It has been designed by deleting a part of the chikungunya virus genome.
Valneva reported final data from the pivotal Phase 3 trial of VLA1553 in March 2022¹⁴, final lot-to-lot consistency results in May 2022¹⁵ and positive twelve-month persistence data in December 2022¹⁶.
If approved, VLA1553 would expand Valneva’s existing commercial vaccines portfolio and as such, Valneva intends to commercialize this vaccine, leveraging its existing manufacturing and commercial operations.
To make VLA1553 more accessible to Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMIC), Valneva and Instituto Butantan in Brazil signed an agreement in January 2021 for the development, manufacturing and marketing of VLA1553¹⁷. The collaboration falls within the framework of the agreement signed between CEPI and Valneva in July 2019¹⁸, which provides funding of up to $24.6 million with support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 program.