Bavarian Nordic gets U.S. Government $44M option exercised for Contract for Freeze-dried MVA-BN smallpox vaccine

Bavarian Nordic said Friday that the U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) has exercised $44 million option under the ongoing contract for freeze-dried MVA-BN smallpox vaccine.

In the press release the company said that the option will cover qualification of the new fill-finish facility, currently being established at BN’s manufacturing site in Denmark, as well as transfer and validation of the freeze-drying process. The majority of this contract option is expected to be revenue recognised in 2019 and 2020.

This is the second option exercised under the contract. In 2017, BARDA exercised an option of $37 million to cover development costs associated with the Phase 3 study required for the eventual approval of the freeze-dried MVA-BN smallpox vaccine. This Phase 3 will be initiated in the first half of 2019, the company said in a statement.

Paul Chaplin, President and Chief Executive Officer of Bavarian Nordic, said: “We are well underway in the establishment of our new fill-finish facility, which will not only unlock the full value of our smallpox vaccine contracts with the U.S. Government, but will also strengthen the commercial foundation of our company in the future as we become a fully-fledged vaccine manufacturer.  The option awarded today will support the final stages of bringing the facility into operations, and we look forward to continuing our successful partnership with BARDA in the development and production of biological countermeasures to protect the U.S. population.”