A Valneva engineer-virologist working on its Covid vaccine candidate. Photograph: Jean-François Monier/AFP via Getty ImagesPfizer has agreed to pay €90.5 million for an 8.1 per cent stake in Valneva, in a move that will bolster the French vaccine company’s Lyme disease programme.
The transaction will be seen as a vote of confidence in Valneva, which has weathered turmoil with its Covid-19 vaccine candidate. Shares in the company jumped more than 20 per cent in morning trading in Paris. Pfizer shares were largely unchanged before the market open in New York. The Financial Times had reported that the UK scrapped the deal because of the shot’s lower efficacy as a booster compared with rival vaccines. The contract had included public investment into manufacturing facilities in Scotland.
The proceeds from the transaction disclosed on Monday will go towards developing a Lyme disease joint programme, the terms of which were revised by the two drugmakers.