GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has acquired a Switzerland-based vaccines company, Okairos, for €250m in cash to boost its existing vaccine platform technology expertise and to continue developing the next generation of vaccines.
Under the terms of the strategic deal, complete ownership of Okairos will be transferred to GSK, including early stage assets for diseases such as respiratory syncytial virus, hepatitis C virus, malaria, tuberculosis, ebola and HIV.
Management teams of both the organizations will jointly work for coming few months until the development of smooth working methods.
Okairos chief executive officer and founder Riccardo Cortese said, "With its considerable resources and know-how, I am confident that GSK is best-placed to maximise this opportunity to potentially transform the vaccines landscape."
The vaccine platform technology developed by Okairos is likely to be used by GSK for improving new prophylactic vaccines designed to prevent infection as well as new classes of therapeutic vaccines to treat infection or disease.
Investments from the life science venture capital firms BioMedInvest, the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, LSP, Novartis Venture Funds and Versant Ventures supported Okairos.
