GSK and Daiichi Sankyo set up Japanese vaccines JV

UK pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK) says it has signed an agreement with Japan’s third-largest drugmaker Daiichi Sankyo (TYO: 4568) to form a joint venture (JV) which is expected to create the number one vaccines company in Japan. Completion of the transaction is expected in the third quarter of this year, subject to local regulatory approvals.

The JV will hold the development and commercial rights for already existing preventative vaccines from both parent companies. It will supply globally recommended vaccines to help protect people of all ages in Japan including human papillomavirus (HPV), rotavirus, seasonal flu, mumps, diphtheria pertussis (DTP) and measles rubella (MR) vaccines. The business will be expanded in the future as new vaccines in the JV development pipeline are approved.

GSK and Daiichi Sankyo have an existing agreement to co-promote the UK firm's infant rota-virus vaccine Rotarix in Japan. Under the new accord, both companies will sell their respective vaccines into the JV at agreed upon prices and expect sales synergies from the JV.