Singapore: Pfizer plans to acquire marketed vaccines portfolio of Baxter International at $635 million.

As part of the transaction, Pfizer will also acquire a portion of Baxter's facility in Orth, Austria, where the vaccines are manufactured.

Baxter's portfolio of marketed vaccines consists of NeisVac-C and FSME-IMMUN/TicoVac. NeisVac-C is a vaccine that helps protect against meningitis caused by group C meningococcal meningitis (MenC). This serious infection of the membrane covering the brain may be fatal in roughly 10-15 percent of patients and 30 percent to more than 50 percent of survivors may suffer from severe physical, social and mental damage. MenC is one of the most prevalent meningococcal serogroups in many parts of the world and vaccination with NeisVac-C has been shown to be highly effective.

FSME-IMMUN/TicoVac is a vaccine that helps protect against tick-borne encephalitis (TBE), an infection of the brain, which is transmitted by the bite of ticks infected with the TBE-virus. Every year, the TBE virus causes thousands of cases of neuroinvasive illness in humans across Europe and Asia and is a growing public health concern in Europe and other parts of the world3. FSME-IMMUN/TicoVac is approved in 30 countries and has been marketed for over 30 years with approximately 120 million doses produced since 1976.

"Vaccines make a tremendous and valuable impact on public health around the world. They have significantly reduced the threat of widespread and often fatal diseases and every day people of all ages benefit from safe and effective vaccines," said Susan Silbermann, president, Pfizer Vaccines. "For over a decade Pfizer has been the global leader in pneumococcal disease prevention. We are working hard to bring innovative vaccines to market that prevent and treat serious diseases. Through this acquisition, we will add two high-quality and life-saving vaccines that bring scale and depth to our portfolio."