Bharat Biotech acquires GSK's vaccine

Hyderabad: Vaccine major Bharat Biotech on Friday announced the acquisition of Chiron Behring Vaccine from GSK for an undisclosed sum.

Speaking to reporters, Bharat Biotech chairman and managing director Krishna Ella said, “Following the acquisition, we (Bharat Biotech and Chiron Behring) will become the largest producer of Rabies vaccine. Together, we will be able to produce about 25 million doses of the vaccine.”

“While eight companies had shown interest, the deal didn’t prove to be costly as GSK put public interest in mind. We should be able to recover the cost in five years,” Dr Ella said.

The deal, which the company expects to close next month, however, will not include the brand name of the rabies vaccine, Dr. Ella said as a reason behind the relatively low cost of the deal. He, however, sounded confident that the new brand under Chiron Behring, which should be out in four months, will do well.

But, India, which faces a severe shortage of rabies vaccine, needs about 40 million doses of vaccine.

So, when asked how the company’s plans to address the shortage, Mr Ella said, “With the acquisition of Chiron Behring, we will get access to 37 markets but our primary focus will be on India first. We hope to utilise around 70 per cent of the vaccine domestically before exporting the rest. However, the shortage should subside by next year.”

Meanwhile, the company has set a target to become the largest firm in terms of portfolio by 2023. “We hope to increase the number of our portfolio from 16 to 22 in about 3-4 years. In the process, we are likely to beat the largest of multinationals.”

The goal, he said, would be achieved by organic and inorganic growth.