Here Are The Companies That Could Profit As Governments Scramble To Secure Monkeypox Treatments And Vaccines

Governments in Europe and North America are scrambling to get supplies of treatments and vaccines to fight monkeypox, a disease that is rare outside Africa.

The only authorized vaccine against monkeypox in the world has beenbombarded with acquisition requests from countries that have not reported monkeypox cases.

The firm is confident that it will be able to meet demand for the shot, known as Jynneos in the U.S., and can produce 30 million doses a year.

Emergent BioSolutions has two treatments for smallpox that are not authorized for monkeypox but can be used to tackle an outbreak due to similarities between the two viruses.

There are over 100 million doses in the national stockpile, and Emergent has had more interest in its products since the outbreak, though it would not discuss specifics.

Emergent also makes a vaccine which is not proven against monkeypox but can be used as a drug in serious cases.

Chimerix did not respond to Forbes' requests for comment on the acquisition of the antiviral, which the FDA approved for use against smallpox in 2021.

The European Medicines Agency has approved the use of tecovirimat for monkeypox and cowpox, even though it is only approved to treat smallpox in the US.

There are 1.7 million courses of the drug in the U.S. government, according to Dennis Hruby, Siga's chief scientific officer.

Moderna, the Massachusetts-based company behind one of the most successful Covid-19 vaccines, said it was in the early stages of researching potential monkeypox vaccines.

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Monkeypox is a well-known entity that has been circulating in parts of Central and Western Africa for decades. The disease is usually mild and goes away on its own within a month or so, with symptoms that include a rash that can look like STDs. Depending on the strain of monkeypox a person is exposed to, the fatality rate can be between 1% and 10%. Children are more at risk for infections and pregnant women are more at risk for infections. The only human disease to have been eradicated is monkeypox, and treatments and vaccines for it are very effective. The U.S. government has a strategic stockpile of drugs and vaccines for use against the disease in case it returns or is used as a weapon. In the event of a monkeypox or smallpox emergency, the federal government has enough vaccine to give to the entire U.S. population, according to a Department of Health and Human Services spokesman. The drugs in the stockpile are not approved to treat monkeypox, but could be used in certain circumstances.

What To Watch For

Monkeypox is spreading to animals. Monkeypox is a zoonotic disease, meaning it moves from animals to humans. The monkeypox virus was first identified in laboratory monkeys in the 1950s, but the animal that carries it is not known. The experts think rodents are the most likely to harbor the virus. There was an outbreak in the US in 2003 that was linked to imported rats. The European Center for Disease is concerned about the risk of monkeypox in the U.K. and U.S. The best way to stop the spread of the virus is to eliminate the spread in humans, according to Aliota.

What We Don't Know

Why are we seeing this outbreak? Cases outside of endemic areas are rare. Those that do crop up elsewhere are linked to travel in the endemic regions. Ellen Carlin, a professor at Georgetown University's Center for Global Health Science and Security, told Forbes that the geographic spread and scale of the outbreak is unusual. How the virus is spreading, how long it has been spreading, and whether the cases are all connected are some of the key information experts are trying to figure out about the outbreak.

Tangent

The makers of diagnostic kits for rare diseases, including Daan Gene and Sansure Biotech, have seen a lot of interest since the monkeypox outbreak. The U.S. Abbott and Swiss pharma giant are working on monkeypox tests. The company is working through the regulatory and logistical steps to get their tests approved for use in the U.S.

Have you heard about Monkeypox? (Atlantic)

There is a rare virus found in the U.S., the UK and Europe.