VATIS UPDATE Article

Serum Institute of India has acquired Nanotherapeutics, the United States, which makes injectable polio doses for €72 million. The acquisition would catapult the Pune-based company to the largest injectable polio vaccine maker in the world with over 200 million doses. The plant at Bohumil, which is one hour off the Czech Republic capital Prague, is not functional now and Serum Institute will have to invest an additional €30-40 million euros to make it functional.

Serum Institute is the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by number of doses produced and sold globally. “This acquisition will add to our injectable polio capacity by four times to a total of 200 million doses by 2019, making us the largest injectable (not oral) polio vaccine manufacturer in the world,” said Adar C Poonawalla, at Serum Institute. The current acquisition by the company is the second one overseas since 2012 when it bought a plant in Holland.