© Reuters Valneva (VALN) Announces 8.1% Stake Taken by Pfizer (PFE), Shares Soar
By Vlad Schepkov
Shares of Valneva SE (NASDAQ:) are among the morning’s biggest movers, as the beleaguered vaccine maker’s stock is up nearly 90% in pre-market trading, on the announcement that the company received an investment from Pfizer (NYSE:).
Under the terms of the agreement, Pfizer will invest €90.5 million, or about $95 million, in the French company, acquiring an 8.1% stake at a price of €9.49 per share.
The investment comes as the extension of the existing research and licensing agreement between the two companies over VALN’s VLA15 – the two are co-developing the Lyme disease vaccine candidate, and if successful, Valneva stands to tiered royalties ranging from 14% to 22% as well as up to $100M in milestones.
Pfizer previously indicated it plans to initiate Phase 3 trial of VLA15 in Q3 of 2022, targeting potential Biologics License Application (BLA) to the FDA in early 2025.
, with its main listing on Euronext Paris, is best known to US investors for VLA2001 – its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, for which the company managed to snap up UK and EU pre-orders for up to 160 million doses early in the pandemic – most of the orders later fell through.
Prior to the announcement, Valneva’s US ADRs were trading down nearly 75% YTD.
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