Bavarian Nordic Enters Licensing and Supply Agreement with Janssen on MVA-BN Ebola Vaccine

Bavarian Nordic has announced a global licence and supply agreement for its MVA-BN Filovirus (Ebola and Marburg) vaccine candidate with Crucell Holland, one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson.

Under the terms of the agreement, Bavarian Nordic will grant Janssen an exclusive licence for its multivalent MVA-BN Filovirus vaccine, designed to protect against Ebola Zaire, Ebola Sudan and Marburg virus. Bavarian Nordic will receive an upfront payment of US$ 25 million and is entitled to up to US$ 20 million in development and regulatory milestones, in addition to royalties for commercial sales outside Africa. Janssen will be fully responsible for all costs associated with the development and commercialization of the vaccine.

In addition, Bavarian Nordic will scale up its production and is targeting to manufacture more than 1 million doses of the vaccine valued at US$ 99.3 million, of which Janssen will make an upfront payment of US$ 70.8 million. The remaining US$ 28.5 million will be received pro rata with deliveries in 2015.

A combination vaccine regimen of Bavarian Nordic's multivalent MVA-BN Filovirus vaccine and Janssen's AdVac technology recently demonstrated complete protection against Ebola in preclinical studies and Janssen will now undertake further clinical investigation of this regimen. Furthermore, Janssen is working closely with authorities as part of its prioritized efforts to make the vaccines available for emergency use to help contain the current outbreak in West Africa.

In addition, through a private placement, Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation will invest DKK 251 million (approximately US$ 43 million) to subscribe for new shares of Bavarian Nordic. 

"We are very pleased to partner with Janssen on the development and supply of an Ebola vaccine to help contain the current outbreak which now constitutes a global health concern. As part of our ongoing work with the US Government, we have been developing potential vaccines against Ebola for several years. The gravity of the situation has called for immediate action from authorities and drug developers to fast-track the development of urgently needed medical countermeasures, and we are happy to join this effort together with Janssen who has demonstrated their leadership by committing to accelerating this vaccine and actively supporting the areas in West Africa affected by the outbreak," said Paul Chaplin, CEO of Bavarian Nordic.