What happened
Shares of Emergent BioSolutions (EBS 6.02%) were jumping 12% as of 11:09 a.m. ET on Monday. The big gain was due to increased concerns about the spread of monkeypox.
Emergent BioSolutions markets ACAM2000, a smallpox vaccine that could also help prevent monkeypox infection. The company also recently announced that it's acquiring exclusive worldwide rights to Chimerix's (CMRX 1.25%) oral smallpox antiviral therapy, Tembexa.
So what
ACAM2000 already ranks as one of Emergent BioSolutions' top products. The smallpox vaccine raked in $206.5 million in sales last year, accounting for 11.5% of the company's total revenue.
However, there's no guarantee that ACAM2000 will receive a significant sales boost from the monkeypox outbreak. President Biden stated over the weekend that "everybody should be concerned" about the virus. He added on Monday, though, that the U.S. already has enough vaccines to "deal with the likelihood of a problem."
Emergent's licensing of Tembexa from Chimerix might be even more valuable because of the monkeypox outbreak. Chimerix expects to receive a contract from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) as early as this quarter.
Perhaps most importantly, Emergent BioSolutions is at long last being viewed more favorably by investors. The healthcare stock has plunged more than 70% since its 2020 peak in large part because of issues at its Maryland plant that manufactured COVID-19 vaccines.
Image source: Getty Images.
Now what
Emergent BioSolutions expects to close its transaction with Chimerix as early as the end of the second quarter of 2022. The company also hopes to receive good news in the not-too-distant future with potential U.S. approval of its anthrax vaccine candidate AV7909.
