Nordic Life Science 1
T E X T b y M AL IN O T M ANI BUSINE S S Janet Ho
ogstraate, CEO, Valneva Sweden, and Lena Hallengren, Sweden’s Minister of Health and Social Affairs, at the inauguration of the new facility. MANUFA C T UR I NG Erik Digman Wiklund, CEO, Targovax “THE FACT THAT COVID-19 vaccines are manufactured in Sweden is progress that indicates the strength of the Swedish model, where companies and society cooperates for the benefit of the population,” said Hallengren at the inauguration. “The presence of a manufacturing facility in Sweden also increases the conditions for emergency preparedness. The pandemic has underlined the value of domestic production.” Valneva Sweden has decided to name the new facility Hans Wigzell Vaccine Facility after professor emeritus Hans Wigzell, former principal of Karolinska Institutet. The facility has been built in the former post terminal in Tomteboda, Solna. It will host both production of Valneva’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate, and also the company’s cholera vaccine. “Early on, Valneva saw an opportunity to complement the increasing need for Sweden and for the rest of the world to have access to a broader portfolio of COVID-19 vaccines. We are extremely happy to be able to contribute to medical innovation in Sweden and to strengthen our reputation as a life science nation,” says Janet Hoogstraate, CEO, Valneva Sweden. proposed to be a “drop-down demerger” where the company demerges operations and assets to its subsidiary Athomstart Invest 586 AS. Immediately after the demerger, Athomstart Invest 586 AS merges with the company’s wholly owned subsidiary, Targovax Solution AS, whereby the merger consideration is issued in the company and corresponds to the share capital decrease amount in the company in connection with the demerger. The background for the proposal is that the Board finds it desirable to establish a pure group structure, with separate operating companies, rather than having operations in the listed parent company. NORDIC LIFE SCIENCE 9 PHOTO JONAS AXELSSON