Singapore: Taiwan based drug maker Adimunne Corp announced that it had partnered with Valneva SE, France-based vaccine maker, to produce 600000 vials of cell-based Japanese encephalitis vaccines per year in Taiwan starting in 2017.

Adimmune chief financial officer Mr Vic Chang said that this initiative would help in providing better precaution against the disease in comparison to the old Japanese Encephalitis vaccine currently used in Taiwan.

Mr Chang added that the drug permit for Valneva's vaccine was applied in June and the application was expected to be approved by next year.

Mr Chang mentioned that nearly 6,00,000 people in Taiwan received shots of Japanese Encephalitis vaccines every year. Traditional Japanese encephalitis vaccine is priced at $3.3 per vial in Taiwan, while the cell-based one sells for $73 per vial in Europe and the US.

Valneva is the largest Japanese encephalitis vaccine maker around the world with drug permits in more than 35 nations, including the US and the Europe, Adimmune said.

Meanwhile, Adimmune said that it had also received a permit to sell its trivalent adjuvanted influenza vaccine in Taiwan early this month, adding that this should help shorten the time to acquire a drug permit for the same vaccine in Europe.