Bavarian Nordic reported record financial results in 2023, earning a preliminary revenue of DKr7.06bn ($1bn) compared to DKr3.15bn ($456m) in 2022, primarily driven by a surge in sales of smallpox / mpox vaccines.

As per the 21 February press release, the company’s 2023 revenue growth was propelled by public preparedness actions, as countries continued to buy vaccines to mitigate the risks of new mpox outbreaks.

In May 2022, the company received several orders from an undisclosed European country for its IMVANEX smallpox vaccine. Following this, Bavarian Nordic sold 500,000 doses of liquid-frozen JYNNEOS to the US in June 2022, bringing the country’s inventory of the vaccine up to almost two million doses. Since then, several countries have placed orders for the vaccine for several years worth of supplies.

A 2022–2023 upswing in mpox cases occurred due to the circulation of the Clade IIb variant, one of the two types of the mpox virus. Clade IIb infections are rarely fatal, but can be high risk for those with weakened immune systems and a history of eczema amongst other risk factors.

Between May 2022 and January 2024, the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported 31,689 US cases of the disease, resulting in 56 deaths. This accounted for almost one-third of total cases globally. As of 9 January 2024, the agency reported that patients have received over 1.2 million doses of Bavarian Nordic’s JYNNEOS vaccine since May 2022.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved JYNNEOS as the first live, non-replicating vaccine for the prevention of smallpox and mpox in adults in 2019. Following this, in August 2022, the organisation recommended an emergency use authorisation of the vaccine for the prevention of monkeypox and smallpox disease in individuals aged 18 years and older who are at high risk of infection. In October 2023, a CDC advisory committee also recommended JYNNEOS for routine use.

To accommodate the increased vaccine demand during the outbreak, Bavarian Nordic expanded its manufacturing capacity. As part of this strategy, the pharma giant announced a deal in August 2022 with the US-based contract manufacturing organisation Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing (GRAM), for the fill-and-finish manufacturing of JYNNEOS.

In the press release accompanying the results, Bavarian Nordic’s CEO Paul Chaplin said: “The increased manufacturing capacity and broader customer base also mean that we will be able to respond to future surges in demand, following increased cases of mpox, or extraordinary governmental orders, that will allow us to exceed the growing base business from time to time.”

According to its H1 2023 report, Bavarian Nordic plans to release its final annual 2023 financial report on 6 March 2024.