European Medicines Agency (EMA), a European Union (EU) agency responsible for the evaluation of medicinal products, has given preliminary approval to a vaccine found effective against monkeypox.
According to details, Bavarian Nordic’s, a Danish biotechnology company, vaccine for smallpox –IMVANEX– has been found to offer significant protection against monkeypox as well.
The US and Canada have already granted regulatory approval to IMVANEX for monkeypox. Before officially receiving EMA’s approval, Bavarian Nordic had supplied IMVANEX to several EU member countries for “off-label” use against monkeypox.
Speaking in this regard, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bavarian Nordic, Paul Chaplin, said that EMA’s approval will ensure the vaccine is supplied across Europe through official channels.
The increase in the coverage of IMVANEX in Europe will also mean that EMA will be well prepared against monkeypox outbreaks in the future, noted Paul, adding that the company is now waiting for the final approval from the European Commission (EC) before shipping consignments all over the continent.
Monkeypox was first discovered in 1958 after two outbreaks of a pox-like disease occurred in monkeys kept for research purposes. The first case of monkeypox in humans was first detected in 1970 in the Democratic Republic (DR) of Congo.
The first human case emerged in DR Congo during intensified efforts to eliminate smallpox. Since then, human cases of monkeypox have mostly been detected in central and western African countries. In May this year, the UK was the first country to confirm the first case of the latest monkeypox outbreak in the world. Since then, over a dozen countries have confirmed cases of monkeypox.
