Pfizer buys Baxter vaccines portfolio for $635 million

Pfizer Inc. announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Baxter International Inc.’s portfolio of marketed vaccines for $635 million. As part of the transaction, Pfizer will also acquire a portion of Baxter’s facility in Orth, Austria, where these vaccines are manufactured.

Baxter’s portfolio of marketed vaccines consists of NeisVac-C and FSME-IMMUN/TicoVac. NeisVac-C is a vaccine that helps protect against meningitis caused by group C meningococcal meningitis (MenC). This serious infection of the membrane covering the brain may be fatal in roughly 10-15 percent of patients1 and 30 percent to more than 50 percent of survivors may suffer from severe physical, social and mental damage. MenC is one of the most prevalent meningococcal serogroups in many parts of the world and vaccination with NeisVac-C has been shown to be highly effective. FSME-IMMUN/TicoVac is a vaccine that helps protect against tick-borne encephalitis (TBE), an infection of the brain, which is transmitted by the bite of ticks infected with the TBE-virus. Every year, the TBE virus causes thousands of cases of neuroinvasive illness in humans across Europe and Asia and is a growing public health concern in Europe and other parts of the world. FSME-IMMUN/TicoVac is approved in 30 countries and has been marketed for over 30 years with approximately 120 million doses produced since 1976.