Bavarian Nordic's smallpox vaccine has emerged as a monkeypox hero.
After supplying the shot in some locales as monkeypox cases surged, the company said Monday it has signed contracts of varying sizes with undisclosed countries. The smallpox vaccine, called Jynneos, is the only shot also FDA-approved for monkeypox.
The company didn't disclose the terms of the deals or the number of doses involved but said they will ensure “sufficient supply” to vaccinate people at risk of infection.
The contracts were also big enough to trigger new revenue estimates for the year. Bavarian Nordic added 100 million kronor to its previous forecast, raising those expectations to DKK 1.4 billion to DKK 1.6 billion for the year. And the company is in talks with more countries to build stockpiles of the vaccine.
“The current monkeypox outbreak continues to call for a swift and coordinated response from health authorities, and we are pleased to assist more countries with supply of vaccines while we continue our dialogues with other governments to make vaccines available as fast as possible to mitigate the situation,” CEO Paul Chaplin said.
The news comes days after reports of the European Union working on a common purchasing agreement for monkeypox vaccines and antivirals. EU member states have reached a “broad consensus” for the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority to obtain medical countermeasures as soon as possible, Reuters reported, citing a European Commission spokesperson.
The EU is in talks to purchase Jynneos, which is called Imvanex in Europe. While contracts have not been signed, Bavarian Nordic said it has enough supply to satisfy the demand.
Bavarian Nordic is also working on a COVID-19 booster vaccine that will soon advance to Phase 3 trials, as well as an investigational respiratory syncytial virus (RS) vaccine that has recently begun its Phase 3 trials.