(Bloomberg) — Emergent BioSolutions Inc. led a rise this week in shares of companies working on vaccines and antiviral products as investors await a decision from U.S. regulators on whether the company’s smallpox vaccine can be used against the fast-spreading smallpox virus.

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The vaccine maker, which expects approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by the end of this quarter, rose more than 50% in the last three trading days after the World Health Organization declared the Mpox outbreak in Africa a global health emergency on Wednesday, more than quadrupling its stock’s value through 2024.

Other drug developers in the space have also seen interest in their shares increase. Previous outbreaks have sparked similar volatility as day traders look for potential winners despite the many obstacles to progress that could help fight the spread of a new virus variant.

Bavarian Nordic A/S – the only company with a vaccine against Mpox approved in the US and Europe – continued its rally on Friday after the pharmaceutical company announced it is seeking approval of its vaccine for adolescents. Bavarian’s shares have gained in nine consecutive sessions and rose another 18% in Copenhagen trading on Friday on expectations that sales of the vaccine will surge.

Siga Technologies Inc., maker of a smallpox drug called Tpoxx that is being tested on patients with Mpox, rose as much as 24 percent on Friday before losing ground. The company, backed by billionaire Ron Perelman, said Thursday that an Mpox treatment trial had failed to meet its main goal but that the drug had shown some benefits.

Because the Mpox vaccine is currently not in high demand in richer countries, companies may struggle to make up for low sales and donations to poor countries. Although the risk of disease for the European population remains low, the European Agency for Disease Prevention and Control said on Friday that it expects more imported cases of the new Mpox strain to emerge in Europe in the coming weeks.

Jean Kaseya, head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has been candid about the obstacles to rolling out the vaccines. Many countries cannot afford the vaccines, which are currently available for $100 per dose and require two doses, Kaseya said. The continent needs an estimated $4 billion to fight the disease.

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Benchmark analyst Robert Wasserman, the only one to recommend Emergent as a buy, is optimistic that the smallpox vaccine ACAM2000 could be used against smallpox.

“FDA approval, followed by a procurement order for the stockpile from the U.S. or international authorities, could provide a boost to Emergent’s medical countermeasures segment,” Wasserman wrote in a statement Thursday.

Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holding Corp. fell 20 percent after its chief executive officer touted the stock’s efforts to advance a new Mpox vaccine into human trials on Bloomberg Television.

Microcap biotech company GeoVax Labs Inc., which has an experimental Mpox vaccine, rose as much as 78% on Friday and is on track for its best week in more than two years.

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