DLA Taps Valneva for $70M Vaccine Dev’t Contract

Biotechnology company Valneva USA has landed a one-year, $70M firm-fixed-price contract from the Defense Logistics Agency to develop a vaccine against Japanese encephalitis virus.

The vaccine is intended for members of the U.S. Air Force, Army, Marine Corps and Navy, the Department of Defense said Tuesday.

Contract work is scheduled to run through Jan. 14, 2020 and will take place in Maryland and the U.K.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that JE virus is transmitted by mosquitoes and may cause death.

Gaithersburg, Md.-based Valneva aims to discover, develop and commercialize vaccines to treat infectious diseases.