Sanofi to acquire Acambis for $546M

More evidence that the vaccine market is hot: vaccine maker Acambis has agreed to a £276 million ($546 million) by Sanofi-Pasteur, the vaccines division of France's Sanofi-Aventis. The deal represents a premium of 65.2 percent to Acambis' closing share price. Sanofi said that it has a "long and successful partnership with Acambis" and that the deal recognizes the company's "recent advances." Acambis recently won a $425 million, 10-year contract to supply the U.S. government with its smallpox vaccine. Additional programs include vaccines against Japanese Encephalitis and West Nile virus, C. difficile and a promising universal flu vaccine. Sanofi stressed that the Acambis deal would strengthen its pipeline.

The buyout, "...provides Sanofi Pasteur with the opportunity to develop a product line complementary to its existing portfolio and to benefit from the continued contribution from Acambis' key personnel," Sanofi said in a statement. "This mutually beneficial acquisition is a logical step building upon Sanofi Pasteur and Acambis' decade long partnership on key projects to develop and market vaccines of the future."

Just last month Sanofi announced plans to invest $6 billion into vaccine production to meet demand in developing nations. Picking up Acambis will certainly help them achieve that goal.

- check out the press release (.pdf)

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