NewsDesk @bactiman63

Specialty vaccine company, Valneva, announced the signing of a new $32 million contract with the United States (U.S.) Department of Defense (DoD) for the supply of its Japanese encephalitis (JE) vaccine, IXIARO®.

Image/CDC

Under this new one-year contract, the DoD will buy a minimum of $32 million worth of IXIARO® vaccines and has the possibility to purchase additional doses during the coming twelve months. Deliveries will commence immediately.

Dipal Patel, Chief Commercial Officer of Valneva commented, “We are excited to continue our long-term relationship with the DoD. The U.S. military has trusted IXIARO® for over ten years to help protect military personnel, their families, civilian government service personnel, and government contractors from this potentially deadly disease.”

IXIARO® is the only JE vaccine approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), having been developed through a cooperative research and development agreement with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. In the U.S., Valneva markets and distributes IXIARO® directly to the military and private travel market.

Valneva’s Japanese encephalitis vaccine is indicated for active immunization for the prevention of the disease for people who travel to, or live in, endemic areas. It has received marketing approval in the U.S., Europe, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Israel under the trade name IXIARO® and in Australia and New Zealand where it is marketed as JESPECT®. It is the only vaccine available to the U.S. military for Japanese Encephalitis. IXIARO® is approved for use in individuals two months of age and older in the U.S. and EU member states, Canada, Norway, Liechtenstein, Iceland, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Israel. In all other licensed territories, IXIARO®/JESPECT® is indicated for use in persons aged 18 years or more.

Japanese encephalitis is a deadly infectious disease found mainly in Asia. About 70,000 cases of JE are estimated to occur in Asia each year, although the actual number of cases is likely much higher due to underreporting in rural areas. JE is fatal in approximately 30 percent of those who show symptoms, and leaves half of survivors with permanent brain damage. The disease is endemic in Southeast Asia, India and China, a region with a population of more than three billion. In 2005, JE killed more than 1,200 children in only one month during an epidemic outbreak in Uttar Pradesh, India, and Nepal.