Sanofi announced on 22 July its USD 1.15 billion upfront acquisition of UK-based Biotech Vicebio, with up to USD 450 million in potential milestone payments. The deal adds Vicebio's bivalent respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)/human metapneumovirus (hMPV) vaccine candidate VXB-241 (Phase I) and pre-clinical trivalent RSV/hMPV/parainfluenza virus type 3 (PIV3) vaccine VXB-251 to Sanofi's pipeline. The transaction also provides access to Vicebio's Molecular Clamp technology, which stabilises viral proteins in their native conformation for improved immunogenicity and enables liquid-stable combination vaccines.

Sanofi highlighted the potential to develop next-gen combination vaccines protecting against multiple respiratory viruses with single doses. Vicebio CEO Emmanuel Hanon noted Sanofi's global scale will accelerate platform development. RSV, hMPV and PIV3 collectively cause over 30% of lower respiratory infections in older adults.

According to PharmCube's NextBiopharm® database, the deal brings the number of RSV assets in Sanofi's pipeline up to 11, within which Beyfortus (nirsevimab) is the only launched product. Click here to request a free trial for NextBiopharm®.