VALN - Valneva dips as French health authority advises against COVID shot

Shares of France-based biotech Valneva SE ( NASDAQ: VALN ) trended lower in European trading after France's public health body Haute Autorité de santé (HAS) advised against the use of the company's COVID-19 vaccine as part of a broader immunization drive.

However, the HAS recommended the use of rival vaccines VidPrevtyn Beta from Sanofi ( SNY ) ( OTCPK:SNYNF )/ GSK ( GSK ) and Nuvaxovid from Novavax ( NVAX ) as boosters for those who cannot receive messenger RNA shots which remain the preferred option.

"However, the HAS does not include the use of Valneva's VLA2001 vaccine in the current primary vaccination strategy," the authority said.

"There are no clinical efficacy or immunological data about the current variants. Therefore, it has not been retained for the time being," Reuters reported quoting Elisabeth Bouvet, president of the HAS' vaccination department.

In June, Valneva ( VALN ) won the EU approval for its inactivated whole-virus COVID-19 vaccine, VLA2001, for primary vaccination in those aged 18 – 50. The U.S. biotech Dynavax Technologies ( NASDAQ: DVAX ) has partnered with Valneva ( VALN ) to deliver the CpG 1018 adjuvant used in the vaccine.

Read: In August, the company shared heterologous booster results for VLA2001 after initial vaccination with AstraZeneca's ( AZN ) vector-based COVID-19 vaccine.

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