(BFM Stock Exchange) – The Brazilian Health Authority has given the green light to the marketing of the IXCHIQ vaccine in French society, for the prevention of the disease caused by the chikungunya virus in people aged 18 and over.

The Valneva anti-Chikungunya vaccine will be able to be marketed in a new country. And not the least since it is Brazil, a country where this disease is endemic.

Vaccines for infectious diseases said on Monday, April 14 on Monday, April 14, that the Brazilian health agency (Anvisa) had granted a marketing authorization to Ixchiq, its vaccine for the prevention of the disease caused by the chikungunya virus in people aged 18 and over.

The Chikungunya virus is a viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes, causing headaches, nausea, fatigue and disabling joint pain. This disease has been identified in 110 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and America. Between 2013 and 2023, more than 3.7 million cases were identified on the American continent with significant economic repercussions, according to figures from the Pan -American Health Organization (PAHO), cited by the Valneva health group.

A “crucial step”

The group awaited an authorization on the market on its anti-chikungunya vaccine in Brazil during the first quarter of this year. The calendar is therefore respected.

“This authorization marks a crucial step in the provision of our chikungunya vaccine in low and intermediate income countries where the disease is endemic,” said Juan Carlos Jaramillo, Valneva medical director.

“The current epidemic in Brazil underlines the fact that the containment of chikungunya is a global public health priority. Our vaccine is particularly well suited to low and intermediate income countries, where access to vaccines is often limited, due to its ability to induce a robust and sustainable immune response in young adults as in older people with a single vaccination,” he continues.

The Americas recorded nearly 300,000 cases of Chikungunya and 300 deaths were allocated to the virus between January and July 2023 in this region, a total of more than 720,000 cases since 2020, explains Valneva. Brazil has reported the largest number of cases, with more than a million cases in total between January 2019 and July 2024.

On the Paris Stock Exchange, the Valneva action climbs 0.8% around 2:50 p.m. after winning up to 5.4% in the morning in reaction to this announcement. On Monday, the title had jumped by more than 15%, after the publication of the advice of the Anvisa on the anti-chikungunya vaccine in Valneva.

A widening of the target population

The specialist in vaccines for infectious diseases explains that this authorization will allow in particular to launch, on a large scale, clinical trials of the vaccine in Brazil including clinical trials of phase IV (trial phase which makes it possible to follow the use of long -term medication, under real conditions of use). These trials are provided for IXCHIQ’s authorizations by the American health agency Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Commission aimed at generating additional data on the efficiency of the vaccine.

Anvisa is therefore the fifth health authority to give the green light to the marketing of the single dose vaccine against the Chikungunya of Valneva. This vaccine is authorized for sale for people aged 18 and over. This is the case since the end of 2023 in the United States and since the end of 2024 in Canada and the European Union. Valneva obtained this authorization in the United Kingdom at the start of 2025.

And since early April, IXCHIQ has now been available for marketing in the European Union, Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland, for people aged 12 and over.

The company has also submitted other requests to expand the indication of the vaccine to the American health agency Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Health Canada in order to expand the use of the vaccine to adolescents in these two countries.