Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
PRNewswire - December 2, 2003
Bavarian Nordic has entered into an agreement with Orion Pharma to acquire the Finnish pharmaceutical company's production facility and administrative offices located in Kvist-gaard, Denmark 30 kilometres north of Copenhagen.
The total investment will be approximately USD 40 million. The site will be re-designed for vaccine production with a capacity to produce up to 120 million doses per year, thus making Bavarian Nordic one of the largest vaccine producers in Europe. The purchase price for Orion Pharma's facility will be covered by the company's existing liquidity, combined with its own income and bank financing.
Peter Wulff, CEO and President commented, "This acquisition is an important milestone in Bavarian Nordic's transformation from a biotech company to a biopharmaceutical company. The new site ensures that we can meet the growing international demand for our safe MVA vaccines against HIV, tropical diseases and smallpox. As the leader in setting new standards for development and production of vaccines, this acquisition strengthens our global leadership position within MVA vaccines."
"Over the last year, we have evaluated several international options in the USA, Canada, Germany, France and Sweden. However the site in Kvistgaard offers significant advantages as it is relatively new, is perfect in terms of size and design and offers unique conditions in relation to our need for a qualified workforce," said Wulff.
Bavarian Nordic currently has facilities in Munich, Berlin and Copenhagen.
The company will move its headquarters and administrative functions to Kvistgaard while the clinical trial materials facility will remain in Berlin. The company also has plans over the next year to significantly strengthen its research organisation in Munich.
The new vaccine facility will be ready for manufacture in 2005 and initially will produce vaccines against smallpox for the US and European markets along with various planned vaccines against HIV.
The company's production partnership with the German vaccine manufacturer IDT will continue and be expanded due to the expected increase demand for vaccines against smallpox and HIV in the coming years.
About Bavarian Nordic:
Founded in 1994, Bavarian Nordic A/S is a leading biopharmaceutical company in the field of innovative vaccines to prevent and treat infectious diseases. With operations in Denmark and Germany, Bavarian Nordic employs 90 people and is listed on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange under the trading symbol BAVA.
Bavarian Nordic's proprietary core technology MVA-BN, is one of the world's safest, multivalent vaccine vectors and ideally suited for use against various infectious diseases such as smallpox, HIV, Japanese Encephalitis and Dengue Fever. Several MVA-BN-based HIV and smallpox vaccines are in clinical Phase I and Phase II trials.
With respect to smallpox vaccines, Bavarian Nordic has supply and development contracts with the governments of Germany, U.K. and U.S.A., among other countries. One of the company's development agreements includes a three-year contract (awarded in February 2003) with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to develop MVA-BN as a safe third-generation smallpox vaccine.
Bavarian Nordic's partners include Chiron and Epimmune of the U.S.A., Gerolymatos of Greece, Impfstoffwerk Dessau-Tornau (IDT) of Germany, and Vaccine Solutions of Australia.
For more information please visit http://www.bavarian-nordic.com
SOURCE Bavarian Nordic
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