Bavarian Nordic announced has entered into an agreement with Emergent BioSolutions, to acquire two marketed travel vaccines, Vivotif for the prevention of typhoid fever and Vaxchora against cholera as well as a Phase 3 vaccine candidate for the prevention of Chikungunya virus for a price tag of up to $380 million, including $270 million in an upfront payment and up to $110 million in future conditional milestone payments.

The acquisition also includes facilities and key personnel related to the acquired assets.

“This acquisition adds not only to our commercial portfolio and reinforces our leading position in travel vaccines, but it also strengthens our pipeline with a promising late-stage vaccine candidate against Chikungunya, an emerging infectious disease that represents a significant unmet medical need worldwide,” said Paul Chaplin, president, and CEO of Bavarian Nordic. “Combined, these assets, together with the acquired capabilities within research and development, manufacturing, and commercial, will make a significant contribution to our vision of becoming one of the largest pure-play vaccine companies.”

Chaplin added that travel vaccines are seeing a rebound after the COVID-19 pandemic and the expanded portfolio allows the company to further explore synergies in its commercial presence across key markets.

“Likewise, the addition of further manufacturing capabilities provides us with greater flexibility and scale in production, as we continue our preparations for the launch of several new products over the next few years.”

Through the acquisition, Bavarian Nordict will further expand and diversify its commercial portfolio and development pipeline.

Moreover, the addition of two market-leading, and revenue-generating vaccines against cholera and typhoid fever, which are marketed in more than 25 countries across US and Europe, provides clear commercial synergies to the company’s existing business as travel vaccines are already a major part of the portfolio. This will establish Bavarian Nordic as a global leader in this area.

In addition, the acquisition enables expansion of Bavarian Nordic’s US commercial sales, marketing, and distribution setup, as well as increased scale in more European markets where the Company is not present today.

Meanwhile, the company will also strengthen its manufacturing capabilities with the acquisition of a biologics facility in Bern, Switzerland, which, in addition to continued seamless manufacturing of the acquired products, enhances the flexibility of the company’s manufacturing setup, and provides opportunities for insourcing the production of future commercial products.