$3.3 billion deal gives GSK leg up in growing vaccines market

Bruised by its failure to enter the  superlatively lucrative market for coronavirus shots, British drug developer GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK) is to spend billions boosting its vaccines business.

The company will pay $2.1 billion upfront for Affinivax, a Cambridge, USA-based firm pioneering the development of a novel class of vaccines with its MAPS (Multiple Antigen Presenting System) platform.

GSK will also be on the hook for up to $1.2 billion in development milestones, as the company advances its next-generation pneumococcal vaccines.