Dive Brief:
- Emergent BioSolutions has picked up PaxVax, a vaccine company majority owned by Cerberus Capital Management, for $270 million in cash.
- The acquisition adds FDA-approved vaccines against cholera and typhoid fever to Emergent's portfolio, as well as a military-funded vaccine, additional salespeople and distribution capabilities.
- In a statement, Emergent said it expects the deal to close in the fourth quarter and the marketed vaccines it now owns to generate between $70 million to $90 million in revenue next year. The company also predicts the vaccines will be accretive by year-end 2019.
Dive Insight:
This deal fits very neatly into Emergent BioSolutions current portfolio. The Maryland-based company already has three vaccines in its pipeline: NuThrax targets anthrax and has a Phase 3 trial planned for 2019; VLA1601 targets Zika virus and is in Phase 1; and a preclinical influenza vaccine.
Buying PaxVax "advances our growth strategy, and progresses us towards the achievement of our 2020 financial and operational goals," said Daniel Abdun-Nabi, CEO of Emergent, in an Aug. 9 statement. He added that Emergent plans to build "on the successes of PaxVax in the travelers market."
PaxVax, which specializes in infectious diseases, provides Emergent with two marketed vaccines. Vivotif (typhoid vaccine live oral Ty21a) is the only oral vaccine licensed by the Food and Drug Administration for the prevention of typhoid fever, while Vaxchora (cholera vaccine live oral) is the only FDA-licensed vaccine for the prevention of cholera.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recommended Vaxchora in adults traveling to an area of active cholera transmission.
The deal also brings on board a number of pipeline candidates. The most advanced, the chikungunya vaccine, is in Phase 2 and being developed in partnership with the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense.
Next in line is a collaboration with the U.S. government to create a modernized capsule form of the Adenovirus 4/7 vaccine currently used by the U.S. military. The project is currently in Phase 1.
Also in early testing are PaxVax's two HIV vaccine candidates, funded by more than $10 million from the National Institutes of Health and others.
PaxVax also brings European-based biologics manufacturing facilities and 250 employees in R&D, manufacturing, and commercial.