New contract will double the supply of monkeypox vaccines to the European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) before year-end.
HERA has ordered an additional 170,000 doses of MVA-BN smallpox/monkeypox vaccine, which will be made available to EU Member States, Norway and Iceland, according to a statement from Bavarian Nordic A/S.
The new agreement will double the supply of monkeypox vaccines to HERA in 2022.
HERA was established by the European Commission in September 2021 with the purpose to strengthen Europe’s ability to prevent, detect, and rapidly respond to cross-border health emergencies, by ensuring the development, manufacturing, procurement, and equitable distribution of key medical countermeasures.
MVA-BN or Modified Vaccinia Ankara-Bavarian Nordic (marketed as IMVANEX® in Europe, JYNNEOS® in the U.S. and IMVAMUNE® in Canada) is a non-replicating smallpox vaccine developed in collaboration with the U.S. government to ensure supply of a smallpox vaccine for the entire population, including immunocompromised individuals who are not recommended vaccination with traditional replicating smallpox vaccines. The vaccine was approved by the European Commission in 2013 for immunization against smallpox in adults aged 18 years and older and has subsequently gained regulatory approvals in Canada and the U.S. where the approval has been extended to include the monkeypox indication as the only vaccine having obtained this to-date.
Bavarian Nordic has ongoing supply contracts with USA and Canada and has delivered the vaccine to a number of undisclosed countries globally as part of their national biological preparedness. In recent years, smaller quantities of the vaccine have been supplied in response to sporadic cases of monkeypox. During the ongoing 2022 outbreak of monkeypox, Bavarian Nordic has worked with several governments and organizations to fulfil the immediate demand for the vaccine through a number of supply agreements and is working to secure manufacturing of vaccines to fulfil the demand in the medium- to long term.
