A FACTORY in West Lothian is to begin UK trials of its Covid vaccine, however the trials will not take place in Scotland.
Valneva’s experimental drug VLA20001 will initially be tested on 150 UK volunteers at four National Institute for Health Research testing sites in Birmingham, Bristol, Newcastle and Southampton.
If successful, Valneva could produce up to 250 million doses of the jab in the UK and internationally at its facility in Livingston over the next five years. Sixty million of those doses could be made available to the UK by the end of 2021 if studies find it to be safe and effective against coronavirus.
If trials are successful, larger clinical trials will be planned for April 2021 with more than 4000 UK volunteers testing two doses of the vaccine in two groups: those aged between 18-65 years and over 65s.
The milestone follows a multi-million-pound investment announced by the UK Government in August, allowing Valneva to expand its Livingston facility.
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