sanofi-aventis to acquire Acambis
sanofi-aventis (Euronext:SAN; NYSE:SNY) will acquire vaccine company Acambis (LSE:ACM) for 190p per share, or about L276 million ($553 million) in cash. The price is a 64% premium to Acambis' close of 116p on Friday, when the deal was announced after market close. The pharma company will gain Acambis' ACAM2000 smallpox vaccine, which is approved in the U.S. and for which Acambis recently received a 10-year, $425 million contract from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (See BioCentury Extra, Wednesday, April 23, 2008).
Acambis' pipeline includes three mid- to late-stage programs that are partnered with sanofi's sanofi pasteur vaccines division: ChimeriVax-JE vaccine against Japanese encephalitis (JE), which has completed Phase III testing; ChimeriVax-Dengue vaccine against dengue fever, which is expected to start Phase III testing this year; and ChimeriVax-West Nile vaccine against West Nile virus infection, which is in Phase II testing. ...