Bavarian Nordic shares pop over 12% as after receiving bumper mpox vaccine

Shares of Danish biotech company Bavarian Nordic jumped more than 12% in early deals on Thursday after it reported stronger-than-expected earnings and announced a bumper vaccine order from an unnamed European country amid the ongoing mpox outbreak.

Bavarian Nordic reported second quarter revenues of 1.43 billion Danish krone ($213 million) and operating profit of 420 million krone, ahead of analyst expectations cited by Reuters.

Shares were up 12.5% by 9:24 a.m. London time.

In a statement on Wednesday, the firm also said it had received a 440,000 dose contract to supply mpox and smallpox vaccines to an undisclosed European country.

The order comes after the World Health Organization last week declared mpox a global public health emergency following the spread of an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to neighboring countries.

This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.