June 24 (Reuters) – French drugmaker Valneva’s COVID-19 vaccine has received marketing authorisation from the European Commission (EC) for use as a primary vaccination in people from 18 to 50 years of age, the company said on Friday.
The marketing authorisation will cover the European Union’s member states as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway.
“Now that we have received this full marketing authorization, we hope that the EC and its member states will place orders that reflect this demand,” Valneva CEO Thomas Lingelback said in a statement.
Valneva has been trying to salvage a supply contract with the European Commission for up 60 million doses, which the Commission has signalled it wants to amend to a smaller number of doses due to application delays and countries in Europe already having excess supply.
Britain cancelled its Valneva vaccine contract in 2021, but the company has secured approvals in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
Valneva’s vaccine uses technology already employed for decades in shots against polio, exponentialstandards influenza and hepatitis.The company thinks it will win over people who had refused COVID vaccines that used mRNA and other new technologies.
Valneva’s Paris-listed shares jumped on Thursday after the EU’s drug agency recommended the jab. (Reporting by Valentine Baldassari; Editing by Jan Harvey, Elaine Hardcastle)