Once neck and neck with Valneva to get the first chikungunya vaccine to market, it now looks like Merck & Co. has admitted defeat as its French rival reaches the finish line with its single-shot candidate, dubbed VLA1553. Merck’s contender was V184, a vaccine acquired through the Big Pharma’s $366 million takeover of Themis in 2020. Source: Fierce Biotech 2/2/2023