Danish pharmaceutical company Bavarian Nordic has declared its preparedness to produce up to 10 million doses of its mpox vaccine by 2025. This announcement comes after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global public health emergency in response to a significant rise in mpox cases in Africa. The WHO’s decision was prompted by a surge in cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the spread of the virus to neighboring countries.
Bavarian Nordic, whose mpox vaccine has been licensed since 2019, is currently holding 500,000 doses in stock. The company is awaiting contracts from affected nations before commencing production. Rolf Sass Sorensen, Bavarian Nordic’s vice president, confirmed that they have additional manufacturing capacity for two million doses in 2024 and a total of 10 million doses by 2025.
Following the WHO’s declaration, Bavarian Nordic’s shares saw a substantial increase of nearly eight percent on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange. This comes after a 12 percent climb on Wednesday. Earlier this week, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the African Union’s health agency, announced the deployment of over 200,000 doses of the vaccine to Africa. This followed an agreement between the European Union (EU) and Bavarian Nordic.
Since January 2022, 16 African countries have reported 38,465 cases of mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, with 1,456 fatalities. Data published last week by the health agency revealed a 160 percent increase in cases this year compared to the previous year.
Bavarian Nordic primarily supplies its mpox vaccine – called Jynneos in the United States and Imvanex in the European Union – to governments and international organizations. However, in April, the company began marketing the vaccine in the US market.
