By Kristy Dorsey

A specialty vaccine company is seeking grant funding to ramp up production of a potential inoculation against Covid-19 from its Scottish laboratory.

French-headquartered Valneva is in discussions with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) after partnering with US-listed Dynavax to develop a vaccine candidate in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The project is currently at the pre-clinical stage, but is expected to reach clinical trials before the end of the year.

Valneva has 500 employees across six countries, including approximately 100 staff at its Scottish facility in Livingston. They have been tasked with producing “seed virus” that has gone to research colleagues in France and Austria working to develop a vaccine candidate.

David Lawrence, Valneva’s Scottish-based chief financial officer, said the new candidate is based on an approved vaccine for another disease currently produced in Livingston. Should the collaboration with Dynavax prove successful, bulk drug manufacturing for the Covid-19 vaccine will also be carried out in Scotland.

READ MORE: Omega Diagnostics surges as virus testing plans progress

“We initially think that we can do 30 to 50 million doses (annually) in Livingston, and then we can scale up from there,” Mr Lawrence said. “That number will depend on the size of the doses, and the dose schedule – whether it requires one or two injections, or if a booster is needed further down the line.”

Valneva, which is listed on Euronext and the Vienna Stock Exchange, has owned the Scottish facility since 2005. It was previously a contract supplier to the French company, which took over the operation after it went bust.

Dynavax is providing its CpG 1018 adjuvant that is already used in its vaccine against adult hepatitis B, which has approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Adjuvants are added to vaccines to boost the immune response to produce more antibodies and longer-lasting immunity.

This is being combined with Valneva’s IXIARO platform, a commercial vaccine product for immunisation to prevent Japanese encephalitis. Both IXIARO and VLA1553, Valneva’s vaccine against the chikungunya virus, are produced in Livingston.

READ MORE: Social distancing monitor developed by Edinburgh technology firm

Mr Lawrence said the collaboration partners believe that combining their proven approaches is the best option for rapid development of a safe and effective vaccine against Covid-19.

Their candidate will not be a live virus vaccine, in which a weakened version of novel coronavirus is used to prompt a response from the immune system. Their inactivated vaccine will have no disease producing capacity, making it a safer alternative for high-risk groups such as the elderly, those with compromised immune systems and individuals suffering from other diseases.

“We believe there will be room in the market for an inactivated vaccine, even if another solution comes along,” he said.

Valneva has previously worked with CEPI on its chikungunya vaccine, which Mr Lawrence said is providing a “good template” for discussions on funding for the Covid-19 vaccine candidate.

CEPI is an international non-profit organisation established in 2017 to finance and co-ordinate the development of new medical countermeasures to prevent and contain infectious diseases. It was founded by the governments of Norway, Germany, Japan and India, together with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust.

CEPI has so far invested in the development of six vaccine candidates against Covid-19. This includes a record $388 million (£314m) in funding announced earlier this week for US-based Novavax.