Latest News
-
November 7, 2005 - Volume 83, Number 45
- p. 9
Vaccines
Chiron Accepts Higher Bid From Novartis
Michael McCoy
After eight weeks of resistance, the vaccine maker Chiron has accepted a sweetened offer by Novartis, the Swiss drug giant. Novartis will acquire the 58% of Chiron that it doesn’t already own for $45.00 per share, or about $5.1 billion in cash.
 NOVARTIS PHOTO |
|
Vasella |
Novartis, which has owned 42% of Chiron for some 10 years, first offered to acquire the rest of the company on Sept. 1 for $40.00 per share, or $4.5 billion. At the time, Chiron rejected the offer as inadequate (C&EN, Sept. 12, page 12).
With the deal, expected to be complete in first-half 2006, Novartis will get the world’s fifth largest vaccine maker, albeit one that has been beset by quality problems. Novartis CEO Daniel Vasella says his plan is “to turn around the Chiron vaccine business, which will require investments in R&D and manufacturing to increase quality and capacity.”
Big drugmakers are becoming interested in vaccines after years of indifference. Novartis, for example, cites forecasts that the global vaccine market is poised to double in size to more than $20 billion by 2009. Some of the growth is expected to come from pandemic preparedness. Late last month, the Department of Health & Human Services awarded Chiron a $62.5 million contract to manufacture a vaccine designed to protect against the H5N1 avian flu virus strain.
The agency earlier signed a $100 million bird flu vaccine contract with Sanofi-Aventis.
Chiron had overall sales last year of $1.7 billion, of which $510 million was in vaccines. The firm is also involved in blood testing and biopharmaceuticals.
- Chemical & Engineering News
- ISSN 0009-2347
- Copyright © 2006 American Chemical Society
Related Stories
- Glaxo, Novartis Go Head-To-Head C&EN, September 12, 2005
- Novartis Bids For All Of Chiron C&EN, September 5, 2005
