The European Union’s (EU) drug regulator said on Thursday it had started a rolling review of the protein-based COVID-19 vaccine from French biotech firm Valneva , weeks after the EU signed a deal with the company for supplies of the shot. The decision to start the real-time review was based on preliminary studies that suggest the vaccine, VLA2001, triggers an antibody response against the coronavirus, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said in a statement. COVID-19 vaccines from Sinovac, Sanofi-GSK and Russia’s Gamaleya Institute are also under the EMA’s rolling review, which aims to speed up possible approvals by studying data as it becomes available.