The British government terminated its contract with vaccine producer Valneva for allegedly breaching its supply obligations, according to the company.
The French company received a termination notice from the U.K. government that it “is in breach of its obligations under the Supply Agreement, but the Company strenuously denies this,” Valneva wrote in a statement.
The U.K. had signed a deal for 190 million doses of the inactivated virus vaccine, with the first 60 million expected in the first quarter of 2022.
The French company is still testing its vaccine in human trials, with Phase 3 results planned for the last quarter of 2021. Valneva already submitted a rolling review to British regulators in August and expects approval later this year.
“Valneva has worked tirelessly, and to its best efforts, on the collaboration with [the U.K. government] including investing significant resources and effort to respond to [its] requests for variant-derived vaccines,” Valneva wrote in a statement.
Valneva added that it will continue developing its vaccine candidate and “will increase its efforts with other potential customers.”
The company has been in prolonged talks with the European Commission but has not completed an agreement due to issues agreeing to a supply schedule.
The U.K. Department of Health was not immediately available for comment.Â
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