Bavarian Nordic inks mpox vaccine pact with Serum Institute of India, expands global reach of the shot

As Bavarian Nordic works to increase global access to its mpox vaccine, the company has inked a manufacturing licensing pact with the Serum Institute of India (SII) to produce MVA-BN for the Indian market.

Under terms of the agreement, SII gets access to the technology for producing the vaccine, which is marketed under the name Jynneos in the U.S., Mexico, Singapore, Switzerland and Canada.

Once SII receives regulatory approvals, it may begin producing the mpox shot as a contract manufacturer for Bavarian Nordic (BN). The deal is designed to expand capacity and provide additional global access to the vaccine during outbreaks of the virus, Bavarian Nordic said in a Dec. 16 press release.

There were no upfront or milestone payments under the agreement, which is based on a profit-sharing model, BN said. SII is responsible for seeking and keeping regulatory approvals in India, with both parties covering their respective costs related to the technology transfer.

Bavarian Nordic said it will continue to search for more global partnership opportunities to expand the availability of the vaccine.

“While there are currently no capacity constraints, scaling of global manufacturing is an important step to ensure the continued equitable access to the vaccine for all countries, and we are pleased to establish this collaboration with the Serum Institute, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by volume,” Paul Chaplin, Bavarian Nordic’s president and CEO, said in the release.

Back in late September, Bavarian Nordic signed a deal with UNICEF to supply 1 million doses of its mpox shot to affected African countries. That deal included 500,000 doses that had been purchased in an agreement reached earlier in the month with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which counts UNICEF as a "core partner."

All of the doses under the UNICEF deal are to be produced by the end of 2024 and be available for delivery upon request. The company has previously said it has the capacity to make 13 million doses of its mpox vaccine by the end of 2025, including up to 2 million this year.

Competing in the mpox vaccine market is Emergent BioSolutions’ ACAM2000, which received its FDA approval in the indication in August.