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Bavarian Nordic inks new Ebola contract

Christian Wenande
September 15th, 2015


This article is more than 9 years old.

Deal could end up generating income of up to 220 million kroner

Deal will see BN team up with Crucell Holland BV, a subsidiary of Janssen (photo: Bavarian Nordic)

The Danish biotech company Bavarian Nordic has signed a contract with its Dutch counterpart Crucell Holland BV to produce a vaccine against Ebola.

Crucell Holland BV is a subsidiary of Belgian-based Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies, which in turn is a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.

The contract, worth an estimated 60 million kroner, involves the development and production of a prime-boost vaccine against Ebola consisting of Bavarian Nordic’s MVA-BN® Filo and Janssen’s Ad26.ZEBOV.

“We are very pleased to strengthen our collaboration with Janssen on the accelerated development of the prime-boost Ebola vaccine regimen,” said Paul Chaplin, the president and CEO of Bavarian Nordic.

“More importantly, it is encouraging that the US government – through BARDA, with whom we have worked for over a decade – recognises the potential of this vaccine to build international preparedness for current and future Ebola outbreaks.”

READ MORE: Bavarian Nordic storms ahead with half-year results

Promising trials
The contract will initially span five years, but it includes options for further deals that could be worth about 160 million kroner.

As part of an accelerated development program, Janssen has already launched a series of clinical tests of the prime-boost vaccine in Europe and Africa.

Bavarian Nordic has not altered its financial expectations for the year as most of the income generated by the deal won’t be realised until 2016 and 2017.


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A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”