Brazil eager to mass produce mpox vaccine — MercoPress

Brazil eager to mass-produce MPox vaccine

The Brazilian vaccine is made from a weakened virus similar to the one that causes MPox

Brazil’s newly formed monkeypox emergency committee stressed this week that one of its main goals is developing a vaccine, one of the main strategies in the fight against the disease, which the World Health Organization (WHO) last week declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), according to the Brazilian news agency Agence France-Presse.

Although still in the research phase for large-scale production, the Vaccine Technology Center of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) has been developing an immunizing agent to prevent infection since the first global emergency two years ago.

Brazil’s science ministry said in a statement that the initiative is one of the priorities of the Virus Network, a committee of virology experts that aims to develop diagnostics, treatments, vaccines and content on emerging viruses in South America’s largest country. Brazil has so far detected 709 cases of monkeypox, though none of them were of the newer, more severe variant.

In 2022, UFMG received a donation of material known as mpox virus seeds from the National Institutes of Health, which is the starting point for developing the active pharmaceutical ingredient for the vaccine. The ministry’s document also stated: “The research is currently in the research phase of increasing production, and we are verifying whether we can obtain raw materials to meet large-scale needs.”

The virus found in Brazil is said to be composed of a virus similar to the MPOX virus, which has been attenuated through multiple transformations in different hosts until it completely lost the ability to reproduce in mammalian hosts such as humans.

According to the WHO, there are currently two vaccines available to prevent MPOX. One of the vaccines, Jynneos, is produced by the Danish pharmaceutical company Bavarian Nordic and is also made from a weakened virus. It is recommended for adults, including pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and people living with HIV.

The second available drug is called ACAM 2000. It is produced by the US pharmaceutical company Emergent BioSolutions, but it has several contraindications, as well as more side effects because it is composed of active viruses, which makes it “less safe,” according to an assessment by the Brazilian Ministry of Health.

Last week, after the World Health Organization declared the measles outbreak a global emergency, Brazil’s Ministry of Health announced that it was negotiating with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to purchase 25,000 doses of Jynneos. Since the Brazilian Medicines Agency (Anvisa) authorized the vaccine for temporary use in 2023, Brazil has received about 47,000 doses of the vaccine and used 29,000 of them.