Who produces drugs and vaccines against smallpox (and gloats on the stock market)?
Monkeypox epidemic fever affects the stock market, and smallpox vaccine or drug companies are already thinking about the orders they expect to receive. The United States, on the other hand, is already well on its way with stocks. Facts, numbers and insights
A few days ago Quartz wrote that while "the markets are in free fall, some biotech companies have had an exceptionally good day". This is because they produce vaccines or drugs against smallpox and, therefore, also against monkeypox or monkeypox.
COMPANIES
As reported by Quartz , “Siga [Technologies, ed ] stock rose more than 40%, Emergent Biosolutions gained nearly 12% and Tonix Pharmaceuticals 15%. Outside the United States, the Danish company Bavarian Nordic recorded a jump of 19% ”.
BAVARIAN NORDIC
As Start wrote, Bavarian Nordic has not revealed the name of the buyer but there is a European country that last Thursday signed a contract to buy thousands of doses of its Imvanex smallpox vaccine, making the stock soar on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange.
In Europe, Imvanex was approved by the European Medicines Agency (Ema) in 2013 for smallpox, but was then equipped with off-label use for monkeypox cases. In Canada and the United States, on the other hand, where it is marketed under the Jynneos brand, it is already authorized against both traditional and monkey smallpox.
According to Endpoints , Bavarian Nordic also closed a $ 119 million deal with the United States Biomedical Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to supply lyophilized doses of the Jynneos vaccine.
SIGA TECHNOLOGIES
New York-based Siga Technologies also told Reuters that it has received requests for the use of its anti-poison drug, which is available in both oral and intravenous formulations. The product, known as tecovirimat or Tpoxx, was approved in 2018 by the FDA as an antiviral for smallpox and by the EMA also against monkeypox, cowpox and the complications deriving from immunization with vaccinia.
There have been no deliveries yet, but the company is "well positioned" in terms of procurement, according to its CEO Phil Gomez. The United States, Endpoints reads, has a stock of 1.7 million doses in the Strategic National Stockpile under the Project Bioshield Act, an act approved by Congress in 2004 under the Bush presidency, which provided for $ 5 billion. for the purchase of drugs that would be used in the event of a bioterrorist attack.
Gomez reported that "Tpoxx is currently only stored in the United States and Canada, but we expect this epidemic to lead to other countries to stock it up."
EMERGENT BIOSOLUTIONS
Emergent Biosolutions, located in Maryland, offers the Acam2000 vaccine which – reminds Time – has been approved in the United States, Australia and Singapore, but can cause side effects, including inflammation of the heart tissues and is not recommended for people. with a weakened immune system.
Acam2000 before being produced by Emergent BioSolutions was from Sanofi .
But the US company also has another ace up its sleeve. In fact, according to Fiercepharma , it recently acquired Tembexa, also known as brincidofovir, from its developer Chimerix for $ 325 million. Both Tpoxx from Siga Technologies and Tembexa are antivirals to be taken orally or by injection.
TONIX PHARMACEUTICALS
It's not ready yet, but New Jersey-based pharmaceutical company Tonix Pharmaceuticals announced it is working on a vaccine, called TNX-801, which aims to fight both smallpox and monkeypox.
But why keep making drugs for a disease that was eradicated in 1980?
PANIC FROM BIOTERRORISM
With the exception of Bavarian Nordic, the other companies that are dealing with smallpox vaccines and drugs are all from the United States.
In the United States, in fact, although it is an eradicated disease, as in Europe and in all rich countries, these drugs have continued to be produced and stocked up for fear of a bioterrorist attack, as demonstrated by the aforementioned Project Bioshield Act. .
"Although natural smallpox no longer exists, concerns over the potential uses of the variola virus as a biological weapon have made the development of smallpox drugs an important component of the US response to medical countermeasures." This is the explanation given in 2021 by the FDA in the Tembexa approval note .
However, despite serious concerns about bioterrorism, it must also be remembered that, as many experts claim, the monkeypox epidemic will not be the next global pandemic because in addition to cures already available (contrary to what happened with Covid-19 ) monkeypox – compared to smallpox – is less lethal: the risk of death, in fact, is between 1 and 3% against 30% of traditional smallpox.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/chi-produce-farmaci-e-vaccini-contro-il-vaiolo-e-gongola-in-borsa/ on Tue, 24 May 2022 09:11:11 +0000.