Mpox Outbreak Sends Stock of Vaccine Maker Bavarian Nordic Soaring

Shares of Bavarian Nordic surged in Danish trading Friday as investors bought into the company with the only approved mpox vaccine in the U.S. and Europe, after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the fast-breaking outbreak a global health emergency.

The WHO on Wednesday said the surge in mpox in African countries constituted a global pubic health emergency, its second such declaration about the disease in two years. The health organization had declared the virus, then called monkeypox, a global emergency in July 2022 but ended the call 10 months later.

Bavarian Nordic’s Mpox Vaccine Only One Approved in US, Europe, Canada, UK

The Danish firm has the only mpox vaccine approved by American, European, Canadian, and British regulators. It said Friday that it had submitted clinical data to Europe’s regulators so the vaccine could be extended for use by adolescents between 12 and 17 years of age. It is currently only approved for adults 18 and over.

Sweden became the first country outside the African continent to confirm mpox in an individual who has traveled to central Africa, the WHO said. The United Nations agency said it had declared the disease a public health emergency after a surge in recent cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo and some neighboring countries and as a new, more severe strain, called clade 1b, emerged.

Bavarian Nordic stock closed up 18% in Danish trading Friday at 283.50 Danish kroner ($41.84). They surged about 48% this week.