Not long after cutting its sales forecast for 2025, Valneva has decided to decrease its operational footprint in France by shutting a facility tasked with both operational and research and development (R&D) activities.
The French vaccine specialist plans to close its 3,178m² facility in Nantes. Instead, it will focus its work in Lyon, the city in which the company was originally established.
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In an emailed statement to Pharmaceutical Technology, a Valneva spokesperson said that 30 positions would be terminated as part of the move. At the end of 2024, the biopharma had a total of 713 employees.
The spokesperson added that no R&D work will be discontinued as a result of the shuttering. Research will be centralised at the vaccine maker’s site in Vienna, where the majority of R&D is already conducted.
The consolidation comes a week after Valneva released financial reports from the first nine-months of 2025. Despite revenue growth, the company downgraded its 2025 guidance – it now expects product sales of between €155m ($179.7m) and €170m, down from a €170m-€180m target revealed in its Q1 report.
A big hit to Valneva’s books came when the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned the company’s chikungunya vaccine Ixchiq due to safety concerns. The licence suspension means the vaccine – a key product in Valneva’s commercial portfolio – is prohibited from being shipped or sold in the US. The biopharma said the suspension significantly impacted sales in its travellers’ segment, leading to an adjustment of guidance.
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By GlobalDataValneva stated it has “responded to the FDA and is awaiting further information from the US regulatory agency”.
Ixchiq is one of three commercial vaccines developed by Valneva, alongside Ixiaro/Jespect for Japanese encephalitis and Dukoral for cholera.
On the same the Nantes news was announced, Valneva unveiled full data from a Phase II study of its Lyme disease vaccine candidate, which is being jointly developed with Pfizer. The findings demonstrated a robust immune response and favourable safety profile across all age groups six months after a third booster dose. Pending positive Phase III data, Pfizer plans to submit regulatory applications to the FDA and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in 2026.
Valneva is part of a vaccine sector with an uncertain future in the US amid regulatory reform targeted to the modality. Several policy shifts and leadership changes overseen by health secretary Robert F Kennedy (RFK) Jr have drawn criticism from scientists and public health experts. Analysts predict the vaccine sector will become volatile moving forward under the Trump administration.
