Valneva published a report in December 2022 that detailed positive antibody persistence data a year after vaccination with a single dose of its vaccine candidate for chikungunya, VLA1553. This press release came only days after news of similarly positive results for the Lyme disease candidate from Valneva and Pfizer.
Persistence trial
In March 2022 Valneva reported positive immunogenicity and safety data, as we explored in a previous article. Following this, Valneva initiated a dedicated antibody persistence trial (VLA1553-303) to “monitor a subset of participants for a period of at least 5 years and confirm the anticipated long-term durability of the antibody response after a single vaccination”.
The trial enrolled 363 healthy adult participants and followed them between months 6 and 12 after vaccination. It is a single-arm, open label trial.
“99% of participants retained neutralising antibody titres above the seroresponse threshold of 150 12 months after the single-dose vaccination.”
These levels confirm the persistence profile observed in previous research. The study will continue to monitor antibody persistence on an annual basis. No safety concerns were identified.
Excitement for Valneva
Dr Juan Carlos Jaramillo, the CMO of Valneva, is “excited about these 12-month data”, which “strengthen the possibilities of inducing a long-lasting antibody response with our chikungunya vaccine candidate”.
“We are looking forward to completing the BLA rolling submission to the FDA and potentially to changing people’s lives. If our investigational vaccine is approved, we are confident that it can help address this major, growing, and unmet public health threat.”
Valneva hopes to finalise the BLA submission with the FDA by the end of 2022. For more on how Valneva is addressing accessibility for this vaccine candidate, read our previous piece on the progress the team is making.
We look forward to hearing more on this subject from Valneva’s CEO, Thomas Lingelbach, at the World Vaccine Congress in Washington in April 2023. To join us for this, get your tickets today.
