Albumedix Ltd., a leader in Recombinant Human Albumin (rHA), specializing in the enablement of advanced therapies and biopharmaceuticals, is expanding its existing collaboration with Valneva SE, a specialty vaccine company focused on prevention of infectious diseases with significant unmet medical need. 
 
This announcement comes on the back of the recent approval of Valneva´s inactivated COVID-19 vaccine (VLA2001) by MHRA, for which Valneva signed an agreement in November 2021 with the European Commission to supply up to 60 million doses over two years, as well as announcing an advance purchase agreement with the Kingdom of Bahrain in December 2021 for the supply of one million doses. 
 
Albumedix Recombumin rHA is an essential component in VLA2001, used in the manufacturing process and final formulation of the vaccine. The companies began their collaboration with the inclusion of Recombumin in Valneva’s single-shot vaccine candidate against the mosquito-borne viral infection chikungunya, VLA1553, which successfully completed its pivotal Phase 3 trial in March 2022. Both companies are committed to producing safe, effective and scalable vaccines. 
 
Albumedix´ chief executive officer, Jonas Skjødt Møller, commented, “We are excited to expand our relationship with a valued partner like Valneva, thereby continuing to leverage our long track record of supporting vaccine companies in their development of safe and scalable vaccines. In the last 2 years, it has been incredible to witness and partake in the monumental achievements realized by the life science industry through purpose-led collaborations like the one we share with Valneva.” 
 
Valneva’s chief operating officer, Vincent Dequenne, added, “We wholeheartedly welcome the contribution that Albumedix is making to the manufacture of our newly approved inactivated, whole virus COVID-19 vaccine – the first of its kind developed in Europe. Our collaboration is enabling the development of vaccines to address significant unmet medical need, including this differentiated COVID-19 vaccine option for populations and physicians who need it.” 
 
Albumin is an established enabler of advanced therapies and biopharmaceuticals and the properties of Recombumin are shown to be beneficial across a broad range of vaccine modalities. Consequently, Albumedix´ rHA´s are already included in a range of vaccine candidates in clinical development and marketed vaccines, resulting in more than 210 million safe injections with Recombumin.