PARIS: French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi on Tuesday unveiled a 3.2-billion-US dollar deal to acquire US biotech company Translate Bio in a move to accelerate development of next-generation mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) technology and catch up with its peers in the Covid-19 vaccine race.

In a joint statement, Sanofi said it has entered into a definitive agreement with Translate Bio under which it will buy all outstanding shares of the US clinical-stage mRNA therapeutics company, for US$38.00 per share in cash, representing a total equity value of approximately $3.2 billion.

The boards of the two companies approved the transaction which aims to accelerate the development of current Sanofi licensed programmes in vaccines, the French group added.

“Translate Bio adds an mRNA technology platform and strong capabilities to our research, further advancing our ability to explore the promise of this technology to develop both best-in-class vaccines and therapeutics,” said Sanofi Chief Executive Paul Hudson.

“We will also be able to accelerate our existing partnered programs already under development. Our goal is to unlock the potential of mRNA in other strategic areas such as immunology, oncology, and rare diseases in addition to vaccines,” he added.

Sanofi expects to complete the deal in the third quarter of 2021.

Since 2018, Sanofi and Translate Bio have been collaborating to develop vaccines based on mRNA technology. They are working on an mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccine, expecting the interim results of the Phase I/II clinical trial to be revealed in the third quarter of the year.

The two companies are also developing an mRNA vaccine against seasonal influenza whose results are set for the last three months of 2021, according to the statement.–Xinhua

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