GSK to divest Chiron Behring Vaccines to Bharat Biotech

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Asian subsidiary is set to divest its Chiron Behring Vaccines unit in Gujarat, India, to domestic clinical biotechnology company Bharat Biotech.

Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed.

Chiron Behring Vaccines, which is said to be one of the largest manufacturers of rabies vaccines, was formed when Chiron Corporation USA acquired the vaccines business of Hoechst.

Located in Ankleshwar, Gujarat Chiron employs approximately 250 people and has a World Health Organisation (WHO) pre-qualified plant with a turnover of around Rs2bn ($27.98m).

Bharat Biotech, which has product registrations in more than 70 countries, expects the acquisition to boost its vaccine manufacturing capabilities.

The company is planning to bolster manufacturing capabilities at Chiron Behring Vaccines as well as improve market access via product registrations in additional countries.

Bharat Biotech chairman and managing director Krishna Ella said: "This acquisition is strategic in helping us enhance our opportunities to achieve greater scale in tackling public health problems.

"Bharat Biotech will strengthen its product portfolio and substantially increase product availability in response to the growing demand for this vaccine.

"With the significant disease burden of rabies, I appreciate GSK’s vision in this transition to Bharat Biotech to continue to meet the needs of the patients."

"With the significant disease burden of rabies in India and other countries, I appreciate GSK’s vision in this transition to Bharat Biotech to continue to meet the needs of the patients."

According to WHO, rabies is a vaccine-preventable disease that causes more than 55,000 deaths each year. India is said to account for 36% of the global rabies deaths.

Over the past couple of months, GSK has entered into a range of important deals.

Most notably, the British pharmaceutical giant signed an agreement with Pfizer in December last year to merge their respective consumer health businesses into a new joint venture with an estimated £9.8bn ($12.7bn) in annual sales.

Last month, GSK completed a $5.1bn acquisition of US-based oncology-focused biopharmaceutical company Tesaro.

Earlier this month, the company formed a global strategic alliance valued at approximately €3.7bn ($4.2bn) with Merck to develop and commercialise an immunotherapy candidate M7824 (bintrafusp alfa) in difficult-to-treat cancers.

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