Bavarian Nordic announced in August 2024 that the US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Respond in the Department of Health and Human Services, has placed an order valued at US$156.8 million. The order concerns additional bulk product for the company’s smallpox/mpox vaccine, JYNNEOS. The bulk product represents $139.7 million of the contract value and will be manufactured and invoiced in 2024. This will “partly replenish” the inventory used to manufacture vaccines in response to the mpox outbreak in 2022. Around $17 million in the contract covers “additional services” in the 2025-2027 period, including storage of vaccine doses in the US.
MVA-BN
Modified Vaccinia Ankara-Bavarian Nordic (MVA-BN) is a non-replicating smallpox and mpox vaccine that has been approved by the FDA, EC, Health Canada, MHRA, and Swissmedic. It also obtained emergency use authorisation in other areas for use in the mpox outbreak.
Preparedness efforts
To fulfil the company’s existing contract to supply a next-generation, freeze-dried version of the vaccine for US smallpox preparedness, the bulk inventory must be replenished. Bavarian Nordic’s President and CEO, Dr Paul Chaplin describes the smallpox/mpox vaccine as a “key component” in the US biological preparedness, which was demonstrated in the 2022 mpox outbreak.
“JYNNEOS was also the first smallpox vaccine successfully developed under Project BioShield, a programme created by the US Congress in 2004 to accelerate the research, development, procurement, and availability of medical countermeasures against biological, chemical, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) agents through public-private partnerships.”
Dr Chaplin is “proud” to continue providing vaccines to protect US citizens against “current and future public health threats”.
“We applaud the US government’s steadfast commitment to maintaining a robust preparedness.”
A longstanding relationship
Bavarian Nordic states that it has worked with the US since 2003 on the development, manufacturing, and supply of a non-replicating smallpox vaccine. Before the vaccine was approved by the FDA in 2019, Bavarian Nordic had supplied nearly 30 million doses of the liquid-frozen version; most of these were delivered for emergency use and have now expired. BARDA supported the development of a freeze-dried version with a longer shelf-life.
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