U.S. negotiates terms with Bavarian Nordic on monkeypox vaccine production

Yahoo Finance's Anjalee Khemlani breaks down the new deal the U.S. and sole monkeypox vaccine maker have reached to speed up vaccine distribution.

Video transcript

SEANA SMITH: There has been a development in the US government's effort to get more of the monkeypox vaccine on the market. Bavarian Nordic, the sole maker of the vaccine, has officially struck a deal with a US-based manufacturer. Anjalee Khemlani is here with the details. Anjalee, what can you tell us?

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: That's right, Seana. So Bavarian Nordic announced today a contract with Michigan-based Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing, and that company is now going to be responsible for the fill and finish of the remaining 2.5 million doses that the US has now ordered as part of a second batch of orders of these doses. Now, this has already started with that tech transfer. It's already underway, and it's taking possibly about three months, which is significantly streamlined from the nine months that it would normally take.

Doses are set to start ramping up later this year. Also, a lot less time than usual. This deal was brokered by the US government, according to the White House and the Health Department. Earlier today, during a White House monkeypox response team briefing, member Don O'Connell said, quote, "When we ordered that second 2.5 million to be filled and finished, we made it a requirement that they work with a domestic US contract manufacturing organization."

Now the back story here, of course, as we know, is that Bavarian Nordic, the sole supplier, has been really just stressed on their demand, having a single line available in Denmark to supply the global demand of these doses. And it forced, really, a lot of companies and a lot of-- sorry, a lot of countries to try and stretch doses, like the US right now, stretching each dose to five of what would be the typical requirements, based on how they're administering these doses.

And they did already have millions of doses in the national stockpile running low. There are new report from Politico noting that the US never really had the money to purchase as many as they needed or as much as experts said they needed. So right now, that's where things stand. And hopefully, we'll be getting more in arms.

SEANA SMITH: Hopefully we will. All right, Anjalee Khemlani, thanks so much for giving us that update.