Vaccine stocks in sight: Valneva with blockbuster hope

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by Julia Groß, Euro am Sonntag

Valneva, together with partner Pfizer, has started a phase 3 trial of Lyme disease vaccine VLA15. 6,000 participants aged five years and older will receive either three primary and one booster shots or placebo injections. If the test is successful, approval could be applied for in 2025.

VLA15 is currently the only vaccine candidate against Lyme disease in clinical testing worldwide. Since the tick-borne infection is widespread and dangerous, Valneva and Pfizer could expect annual sales of more than $1 billion if successful. Valneva will receive a $25 million milestone payment from Pfizer at the start of the study.

Valneva’s share price rose after the news was released. In contrast to Novavax (see investor information), the company is pushing ahead with other promising projects in addition to the Covid vaccine development, which has not gone well.

Pfizer boss Albert Bourla recently said that the group would go “big” into the M&A business – and he wasn’t lying. Pfizer acquires biotech company Global Blood Therapeutics for $5.4 billion. The pharmaceutical giant thus secures access to an already approved drug against sickle cell anemia, which is to become a blockbuster with Pfizer’s marketing power.

Notice of Conflicts of Interest:The majority owner of the sole shareholder of Finanzen Verlag GmbH, Mr. Bernd Förtsch, has taken direct and indirect positions on the following financial instruments mentioned in the publication or related derivatives that can benefit from any price development resulting from the publication: Biontech, Curevac, GlaxoSmithKline , Novavax, Pfizer, Valneva.

The managing editor-in-chief, Mr. Frank Pöpsel, has directly and indirectly taken positions on the following financial instruments mentioned in the publication or derivatives related to them, which can benefit from any price development resulting from the publication: Biontech.

INVESTOR INFO

The share price collapsed by around a third on Tuesday after Novavax cut full-year guidance by more than half. Instead of five, the company now expects only $ 2.3 billion in revenue from its Covid 19 vaccine. It remains a mystery why analysts have also put sales far too high up to now. After Novavax was hardly vaccinated in Europe, a high demand in the USA would have been very surprising. The company should focus on its influenza and next-generation Covid vaccine because the technology is good but execution has been disastrous so far.

Like the entire sector, the share of the Swiss investment company has also increased significantly in the past few days. In addition to Moderna, BB Biotech also holds Alnylam, for example, which a few days ago reported positive study results with a drug against a special form of heart failure. This could significantly increase the number of treatable patients. Alnylam is developing RNA-based drugs that can be used to specifically silence genes. The BB Biotech share is well suited for investors who are interested in the biotech sector but do not want to invest in individual stocks themselves.

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Image sources: mundissima / Shutterstock.com, Finanzen Verlag