Pfizer To Invest $95 Mln In Valneva; Updates Deal Terms For Lyme Disease Vaccine Candidate VLA15

(RTTNews) - Pfizer Inc. (PFE) and Valneva SE (VALN), a French specialty vaccine company, announced Monday that they have entered into an Equity Subscription Agreement and have updated the terms of their Collaboration and License Agreement for Lyme disease vaccine candidate VLA15.

As announced earlier, Pfizer plans to initiate the Phase 3 study of VLA15 in the third quarter of 2022.

As part of the Equity Subscription deal, Pfizer will invest 90.5 million euros or $95 million in Valneva, representing 8.1 percent of Valneva's share capital at a price of 9.49 euros per share. The investment will be through a reserved capital increase to further support the strategic Lyme partnership between the two companies.

The equity investment is due to close on June 22, 2022. Valneva is planning to use the proceeds from the investment to support its Phase 3 development contribution to the Lyme disease program.

In addition, Valneva and Pfizer updated the terms of their collaboration and license agreement which they announced on April 30, 2020. Valneva will now fund 40 percent of the remaining shared development costs compared to 30 percent in the initial agreement.

Pfizer will pay Valneva tiered royalties ranging from 14 percent to 22 percent, compared to royalties starting at 19 percent in the initial agreement. In addition, the royalties will be complemented by up to $100 million in milestones payable to Valneva based on cumulative sales.

Pending successful initiation and completion of the planned Phase 3 study for VLA15, Pfizer could potentially submit a Biologics License Application or BLA to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as early as 2025.