Bharat Biotech set to acquire Chiron Behring Vaccines

:City-based vaccine- manufacturer Bharat Biotech Friday signed an agreement to acquire Chiron Behring Vaccines, Ankleshwar, Gujarat, from GlaxoSmithKline-Asia for an undisclosed amount.

According to chairman and managing director of Bharat Biotech Krishna Ella, Chiron Behring makes rabies vaccine and has an installed capacity of 15 million doses per annum.

"This acquisition is strategic in helping us enhance our opportunities to achieve greater scale in tackling public health problems," he said.

Bharat Biotechwouldstrengthen its product portfolio and increase product availability to meet the growing demand for the vaccine, Ella told reporters here.

Bharat Biotech currently has rabies vaccine- manufacturing capacity of 10 million doses per annum.

With the acquisition, the total capacity would go upto 25 million making it the largest manufacturer of rabies vaccine in the world, he said.

Quoting WHO reports, Ella said rabies claims lives of over 55,000 people each year mostly in Asia and Africa.

India accounts for 36 per cent of the world rabies deaths.

Replying to a query, he said Bharat Biotech at present makes vaccines for 16 diseases and plans to add six more in the coming three to four years.