Sanofi-Pasteur to develop pneumococcal vaccine

Sanofi-Pasteur has today (March 19th) announced it is to collaborate with South Korea's SK Chemical Co to produce and market a pneumococcal infection vaccine. 

While both companies will provide investment towards the development of the treatments, Sanofi has made an upfront payment of $23 million (13.86 million pounds) to facilitate the deal.

If successful, the vaccine will be produced at SK Chemical's facility in An-dong, Korea – 268 kilometres from Seoul. 

Once registered and approved, the drug would be launched globally by Sanofi Pasteur and the firms will share all profits outside of Korea, where it would be commercialised exclusively by SK Chemical.

According to a statement from Sanofi, the market for vaccinations to protect against diseases caused by streptococcus pneumoniae – which include pneumonia, meningitis and febrile bacteraemia – is worth around $4 billion worldwide.

The World Health Organization estimates the bacterial infection is responsible for around 1.6 million deaths per year globally.