Bavarian Nordic, the Danish pharmaceutical company that makes the vaccine against monkeypox (mpox), said today that it is “better prepared” to supply the world with the vaccine against the disease than the previous outbreak in 2022.

“We are better prepared,” explained Paul Chaplin, the drugmaker’s chairman and chief executive, on the occasion of the presentation of its quarterly results.

“Not only have we stockpiled to meet anticipated orders, but we’ve also stockpiled to be able to respond in the event of an outbreak, as is happening now,” he stressed.

Last week, Bavarian Nordic said it was ready to produce up to 10 million doses of vaccines by 2025.

Currently, the pharmaceutical company has about 500,000 doses in stock.

According to the group, “this period probably does not cause as much panic as the 2022/2023 period”, especially when the pharmaceutical industry does not know the status of stocks of vaccines that have already been distributed around the world.

The major outbreak of the disease in Africa is mainly due to a new strain, the clade 1b variant, which is more contagious and more dangerous than the previous ones.

The epidemic spreads partly through sexual relations but the virus is also transmitted by non-sexual contacts, also threatening children in whom the disease appears most dangerous.

Bavarian Nordic recently asked the European Medicines Agency to extend the use of its vaccine to adolescents aged 12 to 17.

The Danish pharmaceutical company, which had a turnover of 1.4 billion kroner (190 million euros) in the second quarter, expects sales of 5.3 billion kroner for the full year.