Bavarian Nordic receives $28 million Ebola vaccine order from J&J

The smallpox vaccine specialist will manufacture and deliver bulk drug substance of MVA-BN Filo vaccine during the second half of this year

As part of the agreement, Bavarian Nordic will manufacture and deliver bulk drug substance of MVA-BN Filo vaccine, licensed to Janssen as part of its Ebola vaccine regimen, Zabdeno (Ad26.ZEBOV) and Mvabea (MVA-BN Filo), which was approved by the European Commission in 2020.

Manufacturing of the bulk drug substance will start in May 2021 and delivery is expected to take place in the second half of 2021.

Bavarian Nordic specialises in smallpox vaccines and has been a long-term supplier to the US Strategic National Stockpile of a non-replicating smallpox vaccine, which has been approved by the FDA under the trade name Jynneos.

Some of the planned batches of Jynneos smallpox vaccine bulk drug substance will be delayed into 2022 to enable manufacturing of this order with short notice.

In March 2021, Bavarian Nordic announced it had raised approximately DKK 1,148 million ($183.4 million), part of which will be used to strengthen the company’s manufacturing capabilities.

Paul Chaplin, President & CEO of Bavarian Nordic said: “As we are currently working to expand our bulk manufacturing capabilities creating a center of excellence in vaccine manufacturing, we are pleased that other customers have shown flexibility allowing us to quickly respond to urgent public health needs in the fight against emerging infectious diseases like Ebola.”