Valneva SE sells clinical manufacturing operations in France to Biological E
Two firms could extend existing partnership into new vaccine development programmes
Valneva SE, a newly established European biotech company, is to sell its Clinical Manufacturing Operations (CMO) in Nantes, France to Biological E, a leading Indian biopharmaceutical company based in Hyderabad.
No financial details were disclosed, but Valneva said the purchase price exceeded the current book value of the facility.
The sale of this unit, which manufactures clinical trial materials, is part of Valneva’s aim to realise cost savings of €5 to 6 million annually following the merger of Intercell and Vivali, which led to the creation of Valneva.
The sale of the CMO facility is expected to save up to €3 million.
Valneva and Biological E initially established a partnership in 2005 for the development and commercialisation of a novel Japanese Encephalitis vaccine for endemic regions, based on Valneva´s JEV technology. The vaccine, which was successfully developed under this partnership, is being marketed in India as JEEV and further territory expansions in endemic markets are planned. The CMO facility in Nantes is not be related to the JEV vaccine programme.
The two firms are also in discussions potentially to extend their partnership into new vaccine development programmes based on Valneva’s EB66 manufacturing platform.
The EB66 cell line is an advanced system for the production of a variety of human and veterinary viral and therapeutic vaccines. Valneva remains the owner of the EB66 cell line and will continue to license it for human and veterinary product development to pharmaceutical and biotech companies.
Thomas Lingelbach, President and Chief Executive and Franck Grimaud, President and Chief Business Officer of Valneva, said: ‘This agreement demonstrates that Valneva’s merger strategy to become a leading sustainable biotech company in antibodies and vaccines, is on track. We believe that it will create additional opportunities for our two companies going forward.’
