Sanofi buys UK's Vicebio for over €1bn to expand vaccine portfolio
Sanofi said there will be an initial cash payment of $1.15bn (€980 million) for the deal, 'with potential milestone payments of up to $450 million based on development and regulatory achievements'.
'We are excited to join Sanofi', said Emmanuel Hanon, Chief Executive Officer at Vicebio, in a statement. 'Their global scale and deep expertise in vaccine development provide the ideal environment to fully realise the potential of our innovative technology."
With the acquisition, Sanofi gets Vicebio's early-stage combination vaccine candidate for two respiratory viruses, the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and human metapneumovirus (hMPV).
Respiratory infections, affecting millions globally, often appear as cold-like illnesses that could, in severe cases, lead to pneumonia.
In respiratory medication, Sanofi already has several vaccines in its portfolio against flu and RSV prevention; this latest acquisition adds a non-mRNA vaccine to its pipeline. mRNA technology is relatively new for vaccines. It teaches the body how to make a protein that triggers an immune response to protect against a specific virus, instead of using a weakened or inactivated germ to trigger this reaction.
With the current deal, Sanofi also gets access to Vicebio's Molecular Clamp technology, which stabilises viral proteins in their native shape, triggering a more effective immune response. This technology is expected to speed up vaccine development and simplify manufacturing and distribution.
'This acquisition furthers Sanofi's dedication to vaccine innovation with the potential to develop next-generation combination vaccines that could provide protection to older adults against multiple respiratory viruses with a single immunisation," said Jean-François Toussaint, global head of research and development vaccines at Sanofi.
The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2025, and will not have a significant impact on Sanofi's financial guidance for 2025. The pharma giant's share price was down around 0.4% before 11:00 CEST in Paris.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
LeMonde
a day ago
- LeMonde
Personalized AI chatbots go off the rails on Instagram and Messenger
Meta is usually known for making big announcements. This time, however, Mark Zuckerberg's company was surprisingly subdued when it rolled out AI Studio in France: Since the end of July, French Instagram and Messenger app users have been able to create personalized chatbots or chat with ones made by other users. Users can now talk to an artificial intelligence (AI) version of a psychologist, a cooking expert, a version of Batgirl, a parody of Vladimir Putin or even a "virtual girlfriend." All of these bots are created by the platforms' users, based on Llama, Meta's large language model. It only takes a few seconds to set up a chatbot by describing its purpose and personality, with the option to add further instructions if needed. The user can then decide whether to make their chatbot publicly accessible or restrict it to their friends only. However, Meta has warned that "we review AIs you create" before they are published, to ensure they do not violate the platform's rules. Yet the review process is rather superficial. Naruto, Harry Potter, the French YouTuber Squeezie, God, Marilyn Monroe, Breaking Bad 's Walter White and even France's prime minister, François Bayrou: Le Monde quickly found many chatbots that impersonate real people, fictional characters covered by copyright protections, and religious figures – including several Jesus Christ bots – all of which are forbidden by Meta. While some of these bots appeared not to have interacted with any users, others have already exchanged millions of messages. Furthermore, despite rules prohibiting the chatbots from posing as financial advisers, dozens of AI bots dedicated to cryptocurrency, personal finance or investment could be found easily. The few profiles tested by Le Monde only repeated general statements. However, in just a few moments, we were able to create a bot specialized in financial advice that encouraged beginners to invest online via the fraudulent trading website RiveGarde, which a previous Le Monde investigation found was connected to an organized crime network. It was then possible to share the chatbot with friends after it went through Meta's automatic verification process, which took less than a minute.
Local France
2 days ago
- Local France
French wine industry warns of ‘brutal' impact from US tariffs
Brussels and Washington struck a trade deal at the weekend which will see most EU exports including France's cherished wines and spirits face a 15 percent US levy. 'The impact of this duty will be all the more brutal as it goes hand in hand with the decline of the US dollar in the United States,' Gabriel Picard, president of the French wine and spirits exporters' federation FEVS, said in a statement. He estimated that the combined effect 'could lead to a 25 percent reduction' in wine and spirits sales in the United States, representing a loss of €1billion. A drop in exports would also affect 600,000 jobs in the wine and spirits industry in France, the statement said. 'Negotiations must continue,' Picard said. 'The situation cannot remain as it is.' Jean-Marie Fabre, president of the union of independent winegrowers of France, urged France to continue negotiations. 'We hope to be granted an exemption,' he told broadcaster RMC. Advertisement The tariffs could reduce consumption of French champagne in the United States, warned Maxime Toubart, the co-president of the Interprofessional Champagne Wines Committee (CIVC). This would impact employment both in the United States and in France, he added. The EU said Thursday it expected its wine sector to be hit along with most European products, but negotiations were ongoing to secure a carve-out. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Thursday that France wanted to obtain 'guarantees' for its wines and spirits.
LeMonde
2 days ago
- LeMonde
Trump gambles with reindustrializing the US
Attracting foreign investment to reindustrialize the US has been the main objective of Donald Trump's tariff policy. "Remember the army of millions and millions of human beings screwing in little screws to make iPhones? That kind of thing is going to come to America," promised US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on April 6, just days after Trump announced so-called "reciprocal" tariffs on April 2. The agreement unveiled on Sunday, July 27, with the European Union includes an additional $600 billion in investments to be made in the US. A few days earlier, Japan committed to invest $550 billion in the US as part of its agreement signed with Washington. These commitments, however, remain vague – both in terms of the time frame and the sectors involved. In recent weeks, several major European groups have announced plans to build factories in the US, raising concerns over reduced activities in Europe and even an increase in offshoring to the US. On July 24, Bernard Arnault, the founder and CEO of the luxury group LVMH, announced that Louis Vuitton would open a fourth manufacturing site across the Atlantic. "For our American customers, buying a Louis Vuitton product 'made in USA' poses (…) no problem at all," Arnault argued in the French newspaper Le Figaro on July 24.
