Bavarian Nordic's Monkeypox Vaccine Gets EU Approval — Has It Been Approved in the US, Canada Too?

Danish biotechnology company Bavarian Nordic has been granted permission to market its lmvanex monkeypox vaccine in the European Union amid a World Health Organization (WHO) public health emergency of international concern on the spreading disease that has hit Europe, the U.S. and Canada.

The WHO declared the monkeypox outbreak reported in a number of countries and the public health emergency of international concern it released on Saturday included temporary recommendations for goverments to take note to prevent a further spread of the disease, Interesting Engineering reported.

The EU approval came two days after the WHO issued its statement as an apparent urgent measure to address the outbreak in the EU member states.

Imvanex is the only approved monkeypox vaccine in the U.S. and Canada, Reuters reported.

The vaccine haowever has been marketed in only a few EU states for "off-label" use. These include Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway.

In the U.S., the government has funded the advancement of the vaccine in the past two decades.

Bavarian Nordic shares rise 126% in Three Months Due to Increeased Demand for Imvanex

Due to increased demand for Imvanex, share prices for Bavarian Nordic rose 122 percent in the last three months.

Bavarian Nordic seeks to produce 30 million doses per year as the firm continued to accept orders from several governments.

Bavarian Nordic remained confident it would meet rising demand for the vaccine, adding it would run production facilities overight and hire more people to work on shifts.

Imvanex is approved to be used against monkeypox and smallpox in Europe. Analysts estimate that at least half of Bavarian Nordic's production capacity could be dedicated to Imvanex, and that it could charge around $100 per dose.

On top of that, the company can also choose to contract production to other providers, but this seems unlikely, since it is something not easily coped, and that Bavarian Nordic alone could ramp up production for Imvanex.

What is Monkeypox? How Does It Spread?

Monkeypox, a smallpox-like disease, had spread in Britain, Spain, and Portugal and has likewise been detected in Canada and the U.S.

It is borne out of a virus that belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. Monkeypox was first detected in 1958 when two outbreaks were reported in monkeys and were kept for research purposes, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said. Monkeys, however, are not the identified carriers of the disease, but is transmitted by small rodents like squirrels, dormice, and rats.

Monkeypox spreads from an animal bite or scratch or when it comes in contact with bodily fluid. Symptoms include fever, body aches, and painful fluid-filled blisters on the hands, feet, and even face. Although human-to-human transmission is rare, it can occur when one comes in contact with pus lesions or bodily fluids of another person who is infected.