The joint procurement agreement goes beyond EU Member States: also allowing additional countries in the European Economic Area (EEA) as well as Western Balkan countries to purchase Bavarian Nordic’s monkeypox vaccine.
Continued preparedness
The MVA-BN or Modified Vaccinia Ankara-Bavarian Nordic (marketed as Imvanex in Europe, Jynneos in the US, and Imvamune in Canada) was approved in Europe for use against monkeypox earlier this year, although the smallpox vaccine had previously been used off-label against the virus.
Since June 2022, HERA has purchased more than 330,000 doses of the vaccine for EU Member States for supply in 2022.
In an update last month, the WHO noted that monkeypox cases are declining globally: but the overall public risk remains 'moderate' in Europe.
The new joint procurement agreement, therefore, has been set up to ensure countries remain prepared to tackle the outbreak beyond this year.
So far, 14 countries have confirmed their participation in the joint procurement, indicating an initial demand of a total of approximately 700,000 doses for delivery in 2023 under the framework contract.
Paul Chaplin, President and CEO of Bavarian Nordic said: “We are pleased to strengthen our collaboration with the EU authorities and others on securing the continued preparedness against monkeypox across Europe.
"While more and more countries have started to recognize the need for building a stockpile for the longer term, most EU Member States continue to rely on the availability of the vaccine through HERA, and this joint procurement agreement will help to reinforce the response across the entire region.”
Elsewhere, 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.
During the ongoing 2022 outbreak of monkeypox, Bavarian Nordic has worked with multiple governments and supranational organizations to ensure rapid access to the vaccine in more than 70 countries to-date and is working to expand its manufacturing capacity to fulfil the global demand in the medium- to long term.
