EMA starts review for Imvanex for monkey pox

The European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) human medicines committee (CHMP) has started a review of data to extend the use of the smallpox vaccine Imvanex to include protecting people from monkeypox disease, which since May this year has been spreading into Europe and elsewhere, from Nigeria where it is endemic.

Denmark’s Bavarian Nordic’s (OMX: BAVA) Imvanex is currently authorized in the European Union for the prevention of smallpox in adults. It contains a live modified form of the vaccinia virus called ‘vaccinia Ankara’, which is related to the smallpox virus. It is also considered a potential vaccine for monkeypox because of the similarity between the monkeypox virus and the smallpox virus.

Bavarian Nordic has already signed a number of supply contracts for the vaccine with various European countries.