London – 14 September 2020. Hogan Lovells has advised Valneva, a specialty vaccine company focused on prevention against diseases with major unmet needs, on its partnership with the UK Government for its inactivated adjuvanted COVID-19 vaccine, VLA2001.

The international team supporting Valneva on the project was led by Hogan Lovells London partners Peter Watts and Jane Summerfield, supported by Senior Associate Caitlin Weeks and Associate Nagham Al-Turaihi.

Specialist input was provided by Paris corporate partner and long-time Valneva advisor, Jean-Marc Franceschi and by an IP team of Katie McConnell (partner, London) and Anishiya Abrol (counsel, Washington DC).

As part of the agreement, should the vaccine be successful, Valneva will supply 60 million doses of the vaccine to the UK Government in the second half of 2021, at a cost of around €470 million. The UK Government also has options over a further 130 million doses, to be supplied between 2022 and 2025, with additional associated revenue for Valneva which could amount to almost €900 million. UK Government is also investing up-front in the scale up and development of the vaccine, with the investment being recouped against the vaccine supply under the partnership.  Valneva’s COVID-19 vaccine is expected to have a two dose regimen, and combines Valneva’s vaccine candidate with the Dynavax CpG 1018 adjuvant.

The announcement of the formal partnership follows July’s announcement of Valneva’s initial intent to participate in the UK Government’s COVID-19 vaccine response, on which Hogan Lovells also advised.

David Lawrence, Chief Financial Officer of Valneva, said “In the face of the pandemic, moving at speed to put our partnership with the UK Government in place has been a priority for Valneva. The Hogan Lovells team have been invaluable to us in achieving that.”

Peter Watts, Hogan Lovells corporate partner, said “Valneva’s partnership with UK Government is an important step for the company and for the UK. It is a privilege to play our part in delivering that partnership”.

A Clifford Chance team led by partner Stephen Reese acted for the UK Government in this transaction.