SF-BASED CHIRON TO ACQUIRE BRITISH VACCINE MAKER
EMERYVILLE - The Chiron Corp. will buy British rival PowderJect Pharmaceuticals PLC for about $878 million, increasing the Bay Area biotechnology company's share of the growing international market for vaccines.
According to the Associated Press, the deal will give Chiron control of Fluvirin, one of the world's best-selling flu vaccines. Fluvirin is one of only two injectable flu vaccines approved in the US.
PowderJect also makes vaccines for yellow fever, cholera and other diseases. Chiron is the now the world's fifth-largest vaccine maker and PowderJect the sixth.
Vaccine makers are finding increased interest in their products because of heightened fears of bioterrorism and the continued spread of the SARS virus.
What's more, the $7.5 billion world flu vaccine market is also expanding. Chiron said it expects the annual demand for flu vaccines in the US to increase from 90 million doses to 150 million doses.
"We like the vaccine industry and intend to invest in this field further," John Lambert, president of Chiron's vaccine unit, told the AP.
Chiron's vaccine division accounted for $357 million in sales last year, almost 30% of the company's entire annual revenue.
The proposed buyout has been approved by both companies' boards.
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