Valneva and Serum Institute of India discontinue Chikungunya vaccine license agreement

image credit- freepik

France-based Valneva SE, a specialty vaccine company, and Serum Institute of India (SII), a Cyrus Poonawalla Group company, have mutually agreed to discontinue their license agreement for Valneva’s single-shot chikungunya vaccine.

Valneva´s strategic intent in regaining full rights is to assume direct control over its supply chain and commercialisation for endemic high-risk countries, thereby accelerating access for regions most affected by the disease. 

Supporting access to the vaccine in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs) falls within the framework of the funding agreement Valneva signed with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) in July 2024 with co-funding from the European Union.  

Since the re-emergence of the virus, Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) has now been identified in over 110 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. Between 2013 and 2023, more than 3.7 million cases were reported in the Americas and the economic impact is considered to be significant. The medical and economic burden is expected to grow with climate change as the mosquito vectors that transmit the disease continue to spread geographically. As such, the World Health Organization (WHO) has highlighted chikungunya as a major public health problem.