Berna Biotech AG

Dutch biotech Crucell has entered into an agreement to by Sweden’s SBL Vaccin AB, boosting its portfolio of vaccines in a deal valued at around 39 million euros ($50m). Crucell said it would fund the acquisition via a share offering, expected to raise 80 million euros, that would also help pay for costs and debt related to its acquisition of Berna Products Corp last month. Investors welcomed the deal, which adds an already-marketed oral cholera vaccine, Dukoral, to Crucell’s stable of travel vaccines, which include hepatitis A shot Epaxal and Vivotif, which protects against typhoid. SBL also has an inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) product and a recently-launched contract manufacturing business. Dukoral is the main revenue generator at SBL, with sales of 14 million euros out of total revenues of 25 million euros in 2005. So far this year, SBL has generated nearly 18 million euros in revenues, and half a million euros in earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT). Meantime, Dukoral, Epaxal and Vivotif could be joined by Crucell’s yellow fever vaccine Flavimun next year if Phase III trials go according to plan. The acquisition also bolsters Crucell’s commercial presence in Scandinavia, as SBL is the leading sales and distribution organisation for vaccines in that region, selling a broad range of products on behalf of international vaccines companies. However, it does not add any new vaccine candidates to Crucell’s clinical research pipeline. Crucell bought Berna Products Corp last month in a deal that in a sense completed the acquisition of the Berna brand. In February this year it bought Berna Biotech, the Swiss company that originally set up Berna Products in 1990.