Axed Covid vaccine contract price taxpayers £358m
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biotechnology firm which had its contract to make Covid vaccines cancelled by the UK Government nonetheless acquired £358 million of taxpayers’ cash, it has emerged.
French agency Valneva was purported to manufacture greater than 100 million vaccines at its web site in Livingston, West Lothian, however the contract was axed by ministers in 2021.
The Government mentioned it pulled out of the deal on the time as a result of the corporate had breached the phrases of the settlement, however this was denied by Valneva.
A monetary assertion revealed on-line exhibits Valneva acquired lots of of hundreds of thousands of kilos in funds regardless of the deal being cancelled.
A kind filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission states Valneva acquired advances totalling £358 million as a part of its settlement with the UK Government.
It exhibits the corporate acquired round £40.5 million beneath a settlement settlement, one other £66.5 million to cowl capital expenditure, and the rest associated to prepayments for vaccine doses.
Valneva is now additionally reportedly contemplating promoting the Almeida plant that was specifically constructed on the Livingston web site to fabricate the Covid vaccines.
It was reported this week by the BBC that the French agency has employed a business actual property agency to discover choices for the mothballed 75,000sq ft facility.
A spokesperson for Valneva mentioned: “Valneva is exploring options for its Almeida manufacturing facility in Livingston, initially built to produce its Covid-19 vaccine, including a possible sale or a re-purposing to produce its vaccine for Japanese encephalitis, and its chikungunya vaccine, if approved.”
The UK Government has been approached for remark.