GlaxoSmithKline

Drug Store News,  Oct 10, 2005  by James Frederick

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GlaxoSmithKline last month moved to acquire ID Biomedical Corp., an integrated biotechnology company dedicated to the manufacture and development of vaccine products, in a deal valued at $2.3 billion.

ID Biomedical has facilities in Canada and in the United States. 1D currently is in the process of expanding and upgrading its Canadian manufacturing facilities, which are expected, beginning in 2007, to produce about 75 million doses per year of ID Biomedical's Fluviral egg-based influenza vaccine.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2005 or early 2006.

"Combined with our recent investment to double influenza vaccine production capacity at our facility in Dresden, Germany, and our recent purchase of the Marietta vaccine site in Pennsylvania [from Wyeth] ... the acquisition of ID Biomedical also could represent a major step in GSK's approach against pandemic flu threat," stated Jean Stephenne, president of GSK Biologicals.

In related news, the FDA in August approved GSK's flu vaccine Fluarix for sale in the United States.

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