Chikungunya: Ixchiq, the first vaccine authorized against the virus, in the hot seat

This is a major blow for the Franco-Austrian laboratory Valneva. After being put on hold in May and then reauthorized on August 6 in the United States, its chikungunya vaccine, Ixchiq, was suspended again on August 22 by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the American agency responsible for drugs.

The cause: four new cases of serious adverse effects observed in American vaccine recipients, which led the agency to judge that "this vaccine is not safe" , which brings the total to more than twenty cases worldwide, mainly in France and the United States. The details have not been made public or communicated to pharmacovigilance professionals.

This is the latest twist in a turbulent summer saga surrounding this vaccine, the first to have been validated against chikungunya, a tropical disease transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, which notably caused a severe epidemic on the island of Réunion from January to June. In its press release published on August 25 , Valneva believes that the latest cases reported by the American agency do not bring anything new, and the laboratory "is not changing its turnover forecasts for the moment."

You have 83.52% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.