Article Author:
London — Climate Change is fueling a rise in tick-borne Lyme disease cases, drug company Valneva is betting big on a vaccine as it appears to be exceeding disappointing sales of its COVID shots.
Although Valneva has received regulatory approvals in the European Union and the United Kingdom, both of which together have taken him away from a deal worth more than $1 billion, and in the last six months his Valneva share price has fallen below his Dropped nearly 40%.
A French company is offering COVID-19 as an alternative to traditional vaccination for people who refuse vaccination, based on a new messenger RNA (mRNA) technology that teaches cells how to make proteins that trigger an immune response. 19 They were selling vaccines.
But there is fierce competition from major international pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca to deploy vaccines to combat the coronavirus pandemic. Unlike Lyme disease, neither Lyme disease nor Chikungunya has an established rival.
As climate change brings longer summers and milder winters in many parts of the world, including Europe and North America, infections spread by so-called vectors such as ticks and mosquitoes are on the rise. https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/climate-change/climate-change-europe/vector-borne-diseases,ヨーロッパ疾病予防管理センターに。
Valneva chief executive Thomas Lingelbach said the prevalence of disease-causing vectors has increased significantly. "Global warming is certainly the key, if not the driver," he told Reuters in an interview. The New York-based company is preparing to begin late-stage clinical trials of an experimental vaccine against Lyme disease, and will soon submit a vaccine against Chikungunya for U.S. approval after successful late-stage studies. increase.
A Lyme disease vaccine clinical trial involving at least 5,000 of her children aged 5 and older will begin in the coming weeks.
Lyme disease is usually caused by poppy seed-sized ticks that carry the bacteria. Most bites don't lead to infections, and not everyone who gets infected has the characteristic rash, but some people find they have the disease later.
But , by this point, standard antibiotic therapy may be ineffective, and without treatment, some patients may develop serious complications, such as brain inflammation.
Chikungunya fever is spread primarily in developing countries such as Africa, Asia, and the Indian subcontinent through the bite of infected mosquitoes.
Although rarely fatal, this viral disease is characterized by severe muscle and joint pain lasting months to years.
If approved, Valneva is marketing its chikungunya injection as a travel vaccine in developed countries, aiming to sell it to people in low- and middle-income countries. expects sales of $250 million.
Valenva estimates that a successful Lyme disease vaccine, known as VLA15, could generate billions of vaccines per year worldwide, given the surge in tick populations, rising infection rates, and long-term morbidity. It expects to generate dollar sales.
This could be a game-changer for his Valneva, which generated €350 million in revenue last year.
'Giant Opportunity'
The COVID-19 pandemic and the recent outbreak of monkeypox outside of Africa, where it is endemic, has led to an epidemic among pharmaceutical companies and investors. interest in a vaccine for
Endemic diseases that are prone to recurring outbreaks, either chronic or acute, are a major public health threat to developing countries, said David Piniger, manager of Polar Capital's Healthcare His Fund. He called it a challenge and a “huge opportunity” for vaccine makers.
This is reflected in the fund's portfolio, which includes stakes in Barneva, AstraZeneca and Bayern Nordic, which manufacture the major approved monkeypox vaccines. .
In June, when Pfizer purchased his 8.1% stake for his €90.5 million ($92 million) to co-develop a Lyme disease vaccine, Valneva I received a big boost.
Valneva's VLA15 was not the first Lyme vaccine developed, his SmithKline Beecham, who later became his GSK, won US approval for his LYMErix shot in 1998. did. sale.
The vaccine made him just over $5 million in 2001 and was withdrawn from the market a year later.
Valneva and his Pfizer have examined the extent of change since then, with infection rates reaching 500,000 each year in Europe and the United States.
According to Ringelbach, VLA15 is expected to help people living in rural areas and other tick-endemic areas.
VLA15 is designed to attack multiple strains, not just one as in the case of LYMErix.
While celebrities such as Justin Bieber and Amy Schumer have publicized their battles with Lyme disease, the scientific understanding of Lyme disease is also growing. Words carry weight," said Professor Sam Telford of Tufts University, who helped conduct the LYMErix clinical trial. ($1 = 0.9825 Euro) (Reporting by Natalie Glover, London; Editing by Josephine Mason and Alexander Smith)
