Pfizer to buy Baxter International's vaccines unit for $635 million


Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. agreed Wednesday to buy the vaccines unit of Baxter International Inc. in a $635 million deal, Reuters reports.
Through the acquisition, Pfizer will have access to Baxter's meningitis vaccine and its encephalitis vaccine, both of which are currently available outside of the United States. Pfizer will also gain access to part of Baxter's vaccine production facility in Austria.
Pfizer's global vaccines business reported sales of $1.1 billion in the second quarter, while Baxter's international vaccines sales totaled $110 million in the same timeframe. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year.
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Kimberly Alters is the news editor at TheWeek.com. She is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
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