Inside Bavarian Nordic: The $3.3 billion Danish pharma giant with the world’s only vaccine for mpox
The rise of mpox is the latest health crisis that has the world scrambling to keep it under control.
What started as a strain with most cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo has now spread to other parts of Africa. It has also recorded its first European case in Sweden, prompting the World Health Organization to declare a global emergency last week.
Mpox, previously called Monkeypox, has proven deadly for hundreds who contracted it, including children, although a bulk of the cases have been mild so far.
Only one company has the vaccine for it: Bavarian Nordic.
When the situation became dire last week, the Danish pharmaceutical giant donated 40,000 doses of its mpox vaccine called Imvanex to Africa’s public health body. Regional groups like the European Commission said they would donate 215,000 vaccine doses from their stockpile to the African health authorities.
The drug was approved in 2022 when a health emergency over mpox was declared, and, at the time, the vaccine helped curb the outbreak to a great extent.
There’s still a need for more Imvanex (also called Jynneos) to protect those most vulnerable to a potential mpox infection. Congo, where many of the cases have been recorded, still lacks vaccines entirely.
So, what do we know about Bavarian Nordic and how has it found itself amid the latest global health emergency?
Yet another Danish pharma giant
Bavarian Nordic, founded in 1994, is a Copenhagen-based pharma company dedicated to developing vaccines, including for Mpox, Typhoid and Rabies.
It’s the only company that received approval from the European Union, the U.S., and other countries for its mpox vaccine.
It began working on its smallpox vaccine, similar to the one used for mpox, back in 2003 with the U.S. government.
Bavarian Nordic has been instrumental in developing and supplying vaccines through other health crises, such as Ebola. For instance, in 2021 the company received a bulk purchase order from Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies worth $28 million.
Since the mpox outbreak two years ago, countries and regional health departments have been building up their supply of the vaccines. The EU purchased 2 million vaccine doses at the time, approved for adult use in smallpox and monkeypox cases as the two viruses are closely related.
The WHO’s declaration of an emergency has caused Bavarian Nordic’s shares to jump over 40%. The company’s shares are up 51% since the start of the year, with its market cap at $3.28 billion.
Bavarian Nordic is the latest of a slew of Danish pharma companies that have gained traction recently. Novo Nordisk has seen stratospheric growth in the last few years following the popularity of its weight-loss and diabetes medications, Wegovy and Ozempic. Meanwhile, Zealand Pharma has emerged as another challenger in the obesity drug market.
The collective clout of Denmark’s pharma industry has resulted in strong economic growth, even causing its GDP to sway with the performance of its drugmakers.
Bavarian Nordic was established in 1994.
What is Bavarian Nordic’s role now?
As the mpox crisis continues to evolve, Bavarian Nordic said it’s ramping up the pace at which it produces vaccines to improve access. It has further told African health officials that it can offer 2 million doses of the drug this year and