Vaccine company Valneva SE (Nasdaq:VALN) (Euronext Paris:VLA) and biomedical research centre Instituto Butantan said on Tuesday that they have initiated a Pilot Vaccination Strategy in Brazil using Valneva's single-shot chikungunya vaccine, IXCHIQ.

The programme, conducted in ten municipalities selected on epidemiological and operational criteria, targets adults aged 18 to 59, aiming for 20% to 40% coverage in the population.

Up to 500,000 doses of IXCHIQ will be donated to the Brazilian Ministry of Health for the campaign. The vaccine received marketing approval in Brazil in April 2025, becoming the first chikungunya vaccine approved in an endemic country.

The pilot will generate real-world evidence on IXCHIQ's safety and effectiveness to support post-marketing studies. Brazil has reported over one million chikungunya cases from January 2019 to July 2024, including 263,502 in 2024, resulting in 246 deaths.

Valneva and Instituto Butantan signed a technology transfer agreement in January 2021, enabling local development, manufacturing and commercialisation of IXCHIQ in Latin America, supported by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the European Union.