Mpox vaccine, drug developers rally as virus spreads outside Africa

[August 17, 2024]  By Lucy Raitano and Alun John

(Reuters) -Shares in companies making and developing products against mpox surged on Friday as the European Union's public health body raised its alert level for the virus spreading in Africa and beyond.

A new variant has spread rapidly in Africa, prompting the World Health Organization to declare mpox a global public health emergency on Wednesday.

Europe's disease prevention agency said on Friday more imported cases will appear in the region, a day after Sweden reported its first case of mpox linked to the new strain.

Shares of Danish biotech firm Bavarian Nordic, which makes an mpox vaccine, jumped 20% on Friday. They have climbed 50% this week as concerns over the virus rise.

Shares in Emergent BioSolutions gained 15% in U.S. trading. Its vaccine, approved for smallpox, has also been used as an mpox shot, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is yet to approve its application for use against the virus.

Jefferies analysts said in a note on Thursday they expect significant orders for Bavarian Nordic's mpox vaccine due to the outbreak.

Up to roughly 3 million doses of the vaccine could potentially be made available in 2024 and 10 million in 2025, the Jefferies analysts said. Winning approval for administering to adolescents and children would be key, they said.

Shares in other companies involved in the mpox response have also swung wildly this week.

An employee of the vaccine company Bavarian Nordic works in a laboratory of the company in Martinsried near Munich, Germany, May 24, 2022. REUTERS/Lukas Barth/ File Photo

SIGA Technologies jumped 7% on Friday, after falling nearly 20% a day earlier after its mpox drug failed to meet the main goal in a study.

U.S.-listed Geovax Labs,, which had a market capitalization of less than $20 million as of Thursday, surged 60% to $5.35 in early trading. The company is developing a vaccine against mpox and smallpox.

Bavarian Nordic's shares closed up 17.8% at 282.5 Danish crowns.

(Reporting by Lucy Raitano and Alun John in London, Manas Mishra and Puyaan Singh in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Samuel Indyk in London, editing by Susan Fenton and Sriraj Kalluvila)

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