Sanofi-Aventis has expanded its presence in emerging markets with a $784 million deal with Hyderabad-based vaccine maker Shantha Biotechnics. On August 31, Sanofi-Pasteur, the vaccines division of Paris-based Sanofi Aventis, took control of Shantha after acquiring the ShanH subsidiary of Mérieux Alliance, a holding company with an 80% stake in Shantha. Under the agreement, Sanofi-Pasteur gains access to Shantha's vaccine platform, which will boost the French company's manufacturing capacity. Shantha will gain from Sanofi-Pasteur's commercial muscle to help launch its pipeline of new vaccines under development, which includes rotavirus, typhoid and human papilloma virus vaccines. Both local government and industry view the transaction positively. “If the combination of Sanofi's innovative skills and Shantha's cost-effective manufacture can result in transfer of technologies and development of affordable vaccines, the country will benefit and we should welcome this,” says Subbarao Natesh, senior advisor from the state Department of Biotechnology, in New Delhi. But not everyone agrees. “A foreign company may acquire an Indian company and infuse technology and capital for its own commercial benefit,” says Yennapu Madhavi, a scientist at the National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies in New Delhi. Varaprasad Reddy, Shantha's managing director, however, hopes the company he founded in 1993 will eventually become a global hub of vaccine research.
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