Coronavirus in Scotland: Valneva begins clinical trials of vaccine made in West Lothian

The Covid-19 vaccine being manufactured by French company Valneva in Livingston, West Lothian has entered clinical trials.
The Valneva factory in Livingston.The Valneva factory in Livingston.
The Valneva factory in Livingston.

It will be tested on 150 volunteers at four sites in Birmingham, Bristol, Newcastle and Southampton.

The UK government has pre-ordered 60 million doses of the two-dose vaccine, with a proportionate amount based on population destined for Scotland.

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It is expected to be approved in the summer of 2021, meaning it will likely arrive after the majority of doses from Pfizer, as well as first doses from the Moderna and AstraZeneca candidates.

The UK government has options over 40 million doses in 2022 and a further 30 to 90 million doses until 2025.

Health officials have said previously that they consider a selection of different vaccines to be an asset, and the Valneva product has some advantages over others.

Business Secretary Alok Sharma said the UK needs a “range of vaccines” to protect people “now and long into the future”.

Valneva is the only candidate of those pre-ordered by the UK which is an inactivated whole virus vaccine.

Because this vaccine does not contain any live virus, it may be especially suited to vulnerable people or those with weaker immune systems.

Larger tests will be planned for April 2021 if these are successful, with more than 4,000 UK volunteers taking two doses.

Valneva will potentially have the capacity to supply up to 250 million vaccine doses to the UK and internationally.

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CEO Thomas Lingelbach said: “Our teams have been working extremely hard to develop our differentiated vaccine candidate and I would like to thank them, as well as the UK Government, for their dedication and support.

“While conducting our first clinical trials, we are already ramping up our manufacturing capacities and commencing production at full-scale so that we can make the vaccine widely available across the world assuming the vaccine is safe and effective.”

The company began developing the vaccine in April, by which time other candidates were already entering human trials.

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Part of the delay was because Valneva had to reapply to regulators to ensure their labs met cleanliness standards. A new building opposite the existing Valneva site in Livingston has also been constructed.

Business Secretary Alok Sharma said: “As we take the monumental steps in rolling out the first Covid-19 vaccine, we must remember that we need to have a range of vaccines available to protect the British public now and long into the future.

“Today we have more welcome news that life-saving clinical trials will begin across the country to test the safety and effectiveness of Valneva’s vaccine, which is being clinically developed right here in the UK.

“Having visited Valneva’s state-of-the art facility in the summer, I have seen first-hand the incredible work our scientists and researchers are doing to develop this vaccine.”

Valneva is one of the smaller firms developing a Covid-19 vaccine for the UK market, with around 500 employees in the UK, Austria, Sweden, France, Canada and the US.

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It currently offers two commercial travel vaccines, and is in the process of developing vaccines against chikungunya, a virus spread by mosquitoes, and Lyme disease.

The development of a Covid-19 vaccine has allowed the Livingston plant to re-focus the work of some employees, who would ordinarily be producing travel vaccines for which there has been a drop in demand due to Covid-19 restrictions.

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