Vaccine Stocks Skyrocket As WHO Declares Health Emergency Over Africa's Mpox Outbreak

 Shares of mpox vaccine makers like Bavarian Nordic soared on Thursday after the World Health Organization declared a public health emergency over an escalating outbreak of the disease in Africa, as nations scramble to mobilize resources needed to contain the outbreak amid fears the deadly virus could spark another deadly pandemic.

Shares of Danish company Bavarian Nordic jumped as much as 17% during early trading in Copenhagen on Thursday, though gains fell to around 11% as trading continued.

The rally extends a climb of around 12% from the day before, when the WHO joined Africa’s top public health body in declaring a growing mpox outbreak a public health emergency.

Bavarian Nordic is one of the only companies in the world with an approved mpox vaccine and in practice it is the only company as the shot it manufactures is the preferred choice of global health authorities by far on account of the much lower risks of negative outcomes associated with it.

Bavarian Nordic sells the vaccine under three brand names worldwide—Jynneos, Imvamune and Imvanex—and U.S.-traded shares of the company were up nearly a third (33%) during premarket trading early Thursday morning.

Shares for Maryland-based Emergent BioSolutions, which acquired smallpox vaccine ACAM2000 from French pharma giant Sanofi in 2017—smallpox is related to mpox and the shot is believed to protect against it as well—had soared nearly 12% by market close on Wednesday, though shares dipped more than 3.5% during premarket trading Thursday.

Tonix Pharmaceuticals, a U.S. firm with an experimental shot in early-stage trials for horsepox with the potential for further applications to smallpox and mpox, also dipped 3.6% during premarket trading, paring gains of 2.7% from the day before.

There are few specific treatments approved for mpox and many have not been extensively tested on the disease given the lack of cases. Those approved for smallpox, which was eradicated in 1980, have even less data, though the similarities between the two viruses mean therapies that work for one are likely to have at least some impact on the other. While they cannot prevent infection, therapies can help save patients, reduce symptoms and disease progression and potentially lower the risk of onward transmission. Antiviral drug tecovirimat has been approved for use against smallpox based on animal tests and while not authorized to treat mpox patients in the U.S., the drug was made available for this purpose under emergency protocols during the 2022 outbreak. The drug, marketed as Tpoxx by Siga Technologies, is still undergoing testing to be approved specifically for mpox. Siga shares were up nearly 27% at market close on Wednesday and were up more than 1% in premarket trading on Thursday.

WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared a public health emergency of international concern on Wednesday, shortly after a similar move by the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the continent’s top public health body. The disease, formerly known as monkeypox, spreads primarily through close contact with infected people, animals or contaminated materials like towels and typically causes mild illness with symptoms including a fever, swollen lymph nodes and characteristic, pus-filled rash. The virus can and does kill, however, and young children, pregnant people and those with compromised immune systems are at particular risk. Africa CDC officials say there have been more than 17,000 suspected cases this year so far and more than 500 deaths. The variant of virus driving the outbreak is a different form of mpox variant responsible for the global outbreak in 2022, when new methods of transmission—notably through sexual contact—helped the virus spread globally, particularly through networks of gay and bisexual men, and data suggests it has a much higher fatality rate than that variant (around 10% compared to less than 1%). The virus has historically been relatively confined to parts of central Africa, especially the Democratic Republic of Congo, with sporadic outbreaks largely linked to animal exposure. The current outbreak suggests the virus has mutated and is now much better able at spreading between humans, significantly raising the risk of a major outbreak. The Africa CDC said at least 13 African countries have now reported cases in recent months, four of which have never reported infections of that virus type before, though most cases are still reported in the DRC.

300,000. That’s how many doses of its mpox vaccine Bavarian Nordic said are ready to ship immediately. The company, alongside the European Commission, has reportedly already donated more than 215,000 doses. CEO Paul Chaplin told news outlets the firm can provide a total of 2 million doses to Africa by the end of the year and another 8 million in 2025.

While ready to scale up, Chaplin said countries will need to mobilize fast in order to secure doses. “We are in late August already, so it really does need some speed in the decision making to be able to do that,” he told Bloomberg. While Africa CDC officials have made clear vaccination will form a key part of their strategy to control the outbreak, the shots are expensive, especially by local standards, and it is not clear where the funds to procure the necessary doses will come from. Director general Jean Kaseya said the shots are priced at around $100 a dose. The figure is around a sixth of the DRC’s roughly $650 GDP per capita.