Reuters: Climate change is causing more tick-borne Lyme disease cases, so drugmaker Valneva is banking big on a vaccine to replace its failing COVID injection.
Valneva got approval from EU and UK regulators, but both countries pulled out of billion-dollar contracts, causing its share price to drop by 40% in the last six months.
The French company marketed its COVID-19 vaccination as a traditional option for those who had refused doses based on messeneger RNA (mRNA) technology, which teaches cells how to manufacture an immune-triggering protein.
There are no known competitors for Lyme disease or Chikungunya, unlike Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA), and AstraZeneca (NASDAQ: ASN).
Climate change is making summers longer and winters milder in many parts of the world, including Europe and North America. This is making it easier for ticks and mosquitoes to spread diseases.
Valneva CEO Thomas Lingelbach stated disease-causing vectors had increased. “Global warming is essential, if not the driving cause,” he told Reuters.
The Saint-Herblain, France-based business is ready to commence a late-stage human trial for its experimental Lyme disease vaccine and will shortly submit its Chikungunya vaccine for U.S. approval after successful late-stage research.
A Lyme disease vaccination study will begin with at least 5,000 adults in the next few weeks.
Poppyseed-sized ticks spread Lyme disease. Most bites do not lead to infection, and not everyone affected has a rash, but some find out later.
By that time, traditional antibiotic treatment may not be enough, and people who don’t get treatment can get brain inflammation.
Chikungunya is spread through mosquito bites in Africa, Asia, and the Indian subcontinent.
Rarely fatal, the viral disease causes months or years of muscle and joint discomfort.
If approved, Valneva intends to market its Chikungunya vaccine as a travel vaccination in both developed and low- and middle-income countries.Samir Devani of Rx Securities predicts $250 million in sales.
Valencia believes the Lyme disease vaccine, VLA15, will produce $1 billion in yearly global sales if successful, given increased tick populations, infection rates, and long-term effects.
Valneva, which made 350 million euros last year, might benefit greatly.
huge opportunity
COVID
19 pandemic and recent episodes of monkeypox beyond Africa have boosted interest in infectious disease vaccinations.
Chronic or acute endemic diseases constitute a public health concern for the poor world and a “great opportunity” for vaccine makers, said Polar Capital’s David Pinniger.
The fund’s portfolio includes Valneva, AstraZeneca, and Bavarian Nordic, the main approved monkeypox vaccine maker.
Pfizer bought 8.1% of Valneva for $92 million in June to co-develop a Lyme disease vaccine.
VLA15 isn’t the first Lyme vaccine. SmithKline Beecham, now GSK, got U.S. approval for LYMErix in 1998.
A lukewarm recommendation from a U.S. advisory group, unsubstantiated safety fears, and anti-vaccine sentiment contributed to poor sales.
The vaccine made $5 million in 2001 and was pulled a year later.
Valneva and Pfizer are betting on how much has changed, with infection rates currently reaching 500,000 cases in Europe and the US each year.
Lingelbach hopes VLA15 will help people in tick-endemic areas.
VLA15 targets many bacteria strains, unlike LYMErix.
Justin Bieber and Amy Schumer have made their Lyme illness struggles public.
Sam Telford, a Tufts professor who ran the LYMErix clinical trial, said, “Their word holds some weight.”
$1=0.9825 euros
