(Reuters) – French drugmaker Valneva reported on Thursday a narrower loss in quarterly profit as it furthered development of its chikungunya vaccine, lowering costs, and invested less in research and development of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate. The group’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) were a loss of 18.4 million euros ($19.53 million) for the three months ended March 31, down from a loss of 28.3 million euros in the same period in 2021. (Reporting by Valentine Baldassari; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)