On Sept. 19, 2024, the European Medical Agency (EMA) announced it had recommended extending the indication of the smallpox and mpox vaccine Imvanex to adolescents from 12 to 17 years of age.

Imvanex, deveoped by Bavarian Nordic, was previously authorised in the European Union (EU) to protect against smallpox, mpox and the disease caused by the vaccinia virus in adults. It contains a live, highly weakened form of a virus called “modified vaccinia virus Ankara” (MVA-BN), which is related to the smallpox virus.

EMA’s human medicines committee (CHMP) based the recommendation to extend the use of Imvanex to adolescents on the interim results of a study that compared the vaccine’s ability to generate an immune response (produce virus-specific antibodies) in 315 adolescents and in 211 adults.