Sanofi, the major pharmaceutical company based in France, has purchased a controlling interest in Shantha Biotechnics, a vaccines company based in India. Pharmafocus does a pretty good job of explaining the somewhat complicated buy: The company’s vaccines arm Sanofi Pasteur will pay 550 million euros for Mérieux Alliance’s subsidiary ShanH, which owns a majority stake in Shantha Biotechnics.
Not so complicated is Sanofi’s motive… Chris Viehbacher, chief executive of Sanofi-Aventis, said: “Shantha provides Sanofi Pasteur with a portfolio of new vaccines in development which complement Sanofi Pasteur’s current vaccines, positioning the company to accelerate its growth in strategically important emerging markets.”
Shantha not only has the vaccines but it knows how to develop products for emerging markets at prices an order of magnitude lower: An example of Shantha’s lower prices is in its cholera vaccine, which costs around to $2 a dose, compared to up to $45 for other products.
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