The mpox epidemic is the latest health crisis the world is scrambling to control.
The virus, which began as a strain dominating cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has now spread to other parts of Africa, with the first European cases confirmed in Sweden and the World Health Organization declaring it a global emergency last week.
Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, has so far proven deadly to hundreds of infected people, including children, although the majority of cases have been mild.
Bavarian Nordic is the only company that can solve this problem.
As the situation became increasingly dire last week, a Danish pharmaceutical giant made a financial donation. 40,000 doses The company has donated its MPOX vaccine, known as Imvanex, to public health agencies in Africa. Regional groups such as the European Commission have 215,000 doses of vaccineThe stockpile was provided to health authorities in Africa.
The drug was approved when a health emergency regarding MPOX was declared in 2022, and at that time the vaccine made a significant contribution to curbing the epidemic.
More Imvanex (also known as Jynneos) is still needed to protect those most vulnerable to potential MPOX infection. In Congo, where many cases have been recorded, there is still no vaccine at all.
So what do we know about Bavarian Nordic and how does it fit in during the recent global health crisis?
The Danish pharmaceutical giant is back again
Bayern Nordic is a pharmaceutical company founded in 1994 and based in Copenhagen. Vaccine developmentThese include vaccinations against chickenpox, typhoid, rabies, etc.
The company is the only company to have its MPOX vaccine approved in the European Union, the United States and other countries.
The company began working with the U.S. government in 2003 to develop a smallpox vaccine (similar to the one used in the measles vaccine).
Bavarian Nordic has also been instrumental in the development and supply of vaccines during other health crises, such as Ebola, and in 2021 received, for example, a bulk purchase order for the equivalent of one million tonnes from the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. $28 million.
Since the outbreak of mpox 2 years agoNational and regional health authorities have been ramping up vaccine supplies, with the EU purchasing 2 million doses of the vaccine approved for adults against smallpox and monkeypox at the time. Closely related.
The WHO emergency declaration sent shares in Bayern Nordic soaring by more than 40%. The company’s shares have risen 51% since the start of the year, giving it a market capitalization of $3.28 billion.
Bayer Nordic is the latest Danish drugmaker to gain momentum. Novo Nordisk has grown rapidly in recent years thanks to the popularity of its weight-loss and diabetes drugs Wegovy and Ozempic, while Zealand Pharma has emerged as a new challenger in the obesity drug market.
The overall influence of the Danish pharmaceutical industry is strong. Economic growthGDP is Shake Along with pharmaceutical company performance.
Courtesy of Bavarian Nordic
What is your current role at Bayern Nordic?
Bavarian Nordic said it was speeding up vaccine production to boost supplies as the drug crisis escalates, and told African health authorities it could provide 2 million doses this year and 10 million by the end of 2025. Release a statement by the Danish company on Saturday.
The company says it can now produce millions of doses of the vaccine to have “supply capacity in case of any potential outbreak.”
And that’s not all: the company has also submitted new data to the EU seeking approval for Imvanex to be used in adolescents. Ages 12 to 17The recent rise in infections has affected young people, and the US Food and Drug Administration has already given emergency authorization for the vaccine to be used in adolescents.
“The latest data we have submitted is very important and we hope that the use of our vaccine will be expanded to younger people,” Bavarian Nordic CEO Paul Chaplin said. said CNBC last week.
African health officials 10 million The vaccine doses will come from a combination of international donations and supplies from Bavarian Nordic. Other pharmaceutical companies may also pitch in by providing vaccines. For example, US-based Emergent BioSolutions has a smallpox vaccine that is used to treat monkeypox. The latter application It has not yet been approved by the FDA.
Meanwhile, the Danish company also plans to conduct clinical trials in children aged between 2 and 12 to test the safety of the vaccine, as MPOX infects children.
Despite playing a vital role in curbing the spread of MPOX, Chaplin maintains that it is not the “only solution” to the disease.
“The international community needs to work together with Bavarian Nordic to actually find a way to distribute this vaccine and contain the spread,” he said.
Bayern Nordic didn’t come back right away luckRequest for comments.
