Novartis acquires access to vaccine technology from Intercell

Novartis has announced a comprehensive agreement with Intercell through which it will acquire access to the company’s technology and elements of its research and development pipeline.

According to the terms of the agreement, Novartis will pay Intercell an initial fee of 270 million euros (181.5 million pounds) for the rights to any unpartnered vaccine in its portfolio in addition to any future products that have completed phase II clinical studies.

Included in this payment is the purchase of 4.8 million shares in the firm, increasing Novartis’ stake in the company by ten per cent to 16.1 per cent.

Product candidates available for use by Novartis following this agreement include the IC43 vaccine for hospital-acquired pseudomonas infections and the IC47 vaccine for use against pneumonia infections in vulnerable patients.

Jorg Reinhardt, chief executive officer of vaccines and diagnostics at Novartis, said: “This novel alliance will further leverage the potential of various Intercell vaccine candidates with the research, development, manufacturing and commercialisation expertise of Novartis.”

He added that the company was pleased to sign an agreement with a firm with a novel product pipeline and similar vision of the role played by science in the development of vaccines.

In June 2006, Novartis announced the acquisition of a vaccine developed by Intercell that protects against the virus that causes the potentially fatal brain disease Japanese encephalitis.