Bavarian Nordic soars as WHO declares mpox emergency

Denmark-based Bavarian Nordic (OMX: BAVA), the only drugmaker with a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved mpox vaccine, saw its shares climb a further 14% to 274.10 kroner this morning, having risen 17% the day before, after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared an escalating mpox outbreak in Africa as a public health emergency.

Bavarian Nordic received an order of more than 175,000 doses from the European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) on Tuesday and has also donated a further 40,000 to HERA. The US said on Wednesday that it would donate 50,000 doses of Jynneos to the DRC. The vaccine is called Imvanex in Europe.

Bavarian Nordic chief executive Paul Chaplin told the Financial Times that the company could ramp up vaccine supply to 2 million doses by the end of the year and 10 million by the end of 2025 if governments placed orders. “We have the capacity, but we need people to start placing orders pretty fast,” he said.