Following the commercial launch of Bavarian Nordic’s smallpox/mpox vaccine Jynneos earlier this year, the Danish company has locked up yet another supply agreement with the U.S. government.
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) is handing Bavarian Nordic $156.8 million to “partly replenish” vaccine stocks in response to the 2022 outbreak of mpox, the disease formerly known as monkeypox.
Previously, BARDA chipped in on the development of a freeze-dried version of the vaccine, which won its first FDA approval in 2019.
The replenishment agreement is necessary to fulfill Bavarian Nordic’s existing pact with the U.S. to supply a next-generation, freeze-dried version of its shot for smallpox preparedness, the company explained in a release.
Bavarian Nordic is set to receive $139.7 million for the vaccine bulk product itself, which will be manufactured and invoiced in 2024. The remaining $17 million covered by the contract will help fuel additional services from 2025 through 2027, including storage of vaccine doses in the U.S., Bavarian Nordic said.
The deal won’t raise Bavarian Nordic’s overall financial guidance for 2024, though it will increase the value of secured contracts in the company’s public preparedness business this year. Overall, Bavarian Nordic expects its public preparedness business to generate between 2.7 billion kroner ($395 million) and 3 billion kroner ($439 million) in 2024.
For all of 2024, Bavarian Nordic expects to generate sales between 5 billion kroner ($731 million) and 5.3 billion kroner ($775 million), thanks to additional revenues from its travel vaccines and contract manufacturing work.
Almost a year ago to the day, Bavarian Nordic received its first Jynneos replenishment deal from the U.S., worth $120 million.
The latest replenishment deal comes a few months after the company debuted Jynneos on the U.S. commercial market. Interested individuals can now access the shot at local pharmacies and physician offices, plus a small clutch of clinics designated by health authorities.
The commercial rollout came on the heels of an October 2023 decision from the U.S. CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to recommend Jynneos as a routine vaccination for adults at risk of mpox infection.
While mpox is no longer considered a medical emergency, as it was in 2022, around 200 cases continue to crop up in the U.S. each month. As of April, more than 32,000 mpox cases had been reported in the U.S. since the 2022 outbreak.