Monkeypox vaccine grew out of bioterrorism investment from company with NC ties

Two decades after smallpox was eradicated, a Danish drug company with Triangle ties began developing a new vaccine against the virus.

A slew of anthrax attacks in the United States had intensified fears of bioterrorism, and intelligence agencies suspected that many countries had smallpox weaponization programs. In 2003, the US government commissioned Bavarian Nordic, which has its US headquarters in Morrisville, to make the only vaccine for preventing and treating the highly fatal diseases.

Now, as monkeypox— a close relative of smallpox that responds to its vaccines— spreads through the United States, the bioterrorism initiative has proven to be a sound investment, even if they didn’t accurately predict where the threat would come from.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced last week it would order an additional 2.5 million doses as part of its effort to vaccinate high-risk groups.

“A monkeypox vaccine exists because the U.S. government invested in preparedness nearly two decades ago,” said Bavarian Nordic CEO, Paul Chaplin, in a recent Op-Ed.

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Two vaccines are on the market for preventing monkeypox.

ACAM2000 is the older of the two and can cause severe complications for those who are immunocompromised. The newer Jynneos vaccine, manufactured by Bavarian Nordic, is generally preferred by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The millions of Jynneos doses ordered by the US DHHS will begin arriving at the Strategic National Stockpile later this year and will continue through early 2023, according to a press release.

The Bavarian Nordic office building in RTP.
The Bavarian Nordic office building in RTP.

With this shipment, the government will own more than 4 million doses. The government owns enough smallpox vaccine — Jynneos and ACAM2000 — to vaccinate millions of Americans, if needed, the press release said.

Bavarian Nordic moved into the Triangle in February 2017, and the North Carolina-based teams supported the clinical development of Jynneos, a spokesperson for the company said. The vaccines are produced at the company’s manufacturing facility in Denmark.

Monkeypox in North Carolina

As of Thursday, North Carolina has reported three cases of monkeypox, one of which was found in Wake County on Wednesday.

There were 605 total cases in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

North Carolinians are not yet able to receive a pre-exposure vaccine for monkeypox virus infection. Health officials are distributing the limited supply of vaccines to those at high-risk, including health-care workers who have been exposed to the virus or those who have sexual contact with an infected person.

The virus appears to spread through contact with infected bodily fluids, like saliva and lesions. Many of the cases so far have been among men who have sex with men, though the virus has the potential to spread to other groups as well.