Vaccine specialist Valneva has sold new shares worth €84 million as it moves to strengthen its balance sheet in the wake of mixed results for its Lyme disease vaccine.
The France-based firm said it has issued almost 16 million new shares, representing an increase of around 9 per cent on the total number of shares already sold.
It comes after it announced in March that Pfizer, which holds an around 5 per cent stake in the company, would go ahead and seek regulatory approval for their joint Lyme disease vaccine, even though one of the Phase 3 trial criteria was not met due to fewer-than-anticipated cases of the disease.
At the time, the results sent Valneva’s share price down over a third.
Last year, the company cut its revenue forecast and had to postpone repaying a $215 million loan to Pharmakon Advisors after the US FDA suspended the licence for its chikungunya vaccine Ixchiq, saying the jab posed a danger to health.
The new shares were offered to selected institutional investors led by Frazier Life Sciences, which upped its stake from 2 per cent to 4 per cent.
Alongside Ixchiq, Valneva also makes a vaccine for cholera and one for Japanese encephalitis. It reported total sales of €158 million in 2025.
