Novartis Expands China Vaccine Investments (NVS)
Novartis AG (NYSE: NVS) wants to get larger in teh realm of vaccines. In China for that matter. The Swiss drug giant has announced plans to buy an 85% majority stake in a privately held Chinese vaccine maker called Zhejiang Tianyuan. The purchase price is roughly $125 million.
This is a tiny scratch on the surface for Novartis as far as its overall size, but this is a clear move further into China, which is now the world’s third-largest market for vaccines but has the world’s largest population. The deal is of curse subject to regulatory approval in China.
This week Novartis had already indicated that will invest up to $1 billion to make its Chinese R&D efforts a top target as the huge nation could easily become one of the Swiss drug maker’s top target markets.
Jon C. Ogg
