Bavarian Nordic A/S, a biotech company from Denmark, has teamed up with the Serum Institute of India, the biggest vaccine maker in the world. They agreed that Serum Institute will help produce Bavarian’s mpox vaccine for people in India. This partnership will also let Serum make more vaccines for Bavarian, helping them sell more worldwide.
Bavarian will not get any upfront money for this deal, but they will share profits from the vaccines. After announcing the deal, Bavarian’s stock price dropped by 3%, although it’s still up by 9% this year.
This year, over 65,700 mpox cases have been reported, mainly in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where about 1,200 people have died from the illness. Unfortunately, many of these cases are affecting children. A new, stronger version of the monkeypox virus that causes mpox has been found in several African countries, as well as in the US, UK, and Thailand. This new version spreads faster through sexual contact and has a higher chance of causing death.
Bavarian Nordic is one of the few companies that make an mpox vaccine. Their vaccines were essential during a previous outbreak in 2022. Sadly, because people became less aware of the disease, another global emergency was declared earlier this year.
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