Under the deal, Bavarian Nordic will purchase the manufacturing and global rights related to travel vaccines Rabipur/RabAvert to prevent rabies and Encepur to prevent TBE.
The deal includes an upfront payment of around €301m ($336m) in cash upon deal closing, which is expected to occur by the end of this year, as well as conditional milestone payments of up to €495m ($552m) expected during the 2020-2025 transition period.
Bavarian Nordic president and CEO Paul Chaplin said: “This truly transformative acquisition pulls forward our vision to be a profitable independent vaccine company. Our proven world-leading manufacturing expertise in egg-based vaccines certainly creates a perfect fit for Rabipur/RabAvert and Encepur, with significant future synergies.”
Rabies is a serious infection in humans resulting from the transfer of Lyssavirus, while TBE is a type of viral encephalitis caused by a filovirus spread by ticks found in most of Europe, Russia and parts of China and Japan
The two commercial vaccines have combined annual sales of around €175m ($195m). Rabipur/RabAvert offers pre- and post-exposure protection against rabies, while Encepur provides protection against European (Western) TBE virus.
Rabipur/RabAvert and Encepur, along with recently-launched Jyneos, will help establish Bavarian Nordic as a profitable independent vaccine company. Jyneos is approved by the FDA to protect against smallpox and monkeypox infections.
Bavarian Nordic will assume full sales and marketing responsibility upon closing, while the manufacturing transfer of the vaccines will take place over a five-year period.
GSK global vaccines president Roger Connor said: “This agreement with Bavarian Nordic will enable us to commit greater resources to our key growth assets and to our R&D pipeline, while also ensuring the continued supply of these important and successful vaccines.”
In April this year, GSK announced the investment of $100m to expand long-term vaccine manufacturing capabilities at its Hamilton facility in Montana, US.
The investment will help GSK to expand the production capacity of major components of the adjuvant system used in several of its vaccines such as Shingrix, which secured approval from the FDA in October 2017.