Vaccine buyout

In the latest evidence of consolidation in the vaccine industry, the Dutch biotechnology firm Crucell agreed last week to buy the Swiss vaccines company Berna Biotech for €381 million (US$449 million). The all-share offer, expected to be launched in mid-December, will value Berna shares at a premium of 27% on their closing price on 30 November, the day before the deal was made public. The acquisition creates a company big enough to compete with large vaccine units such as those at Sanofi-Aventis, GlaxoSmithKline and Chiron, which is being acquired by Novartis.

Going Green

BP, Europe's leading oil company, plans to double its investment in alternative energy, spending up to US$8 billion over ten years on power generation from solar, wind, hydrogen and combined-cycle-gas-turbine sources. The company last week launched a new unit, BP Alternative Energy, to manage the programme. It predicted that the business could generate revenues of $6 billion annually within a decade. The new business unit will employ some 2,500 people globally.

Lucrative Licence

An Alabama biotechnology firm has licensed a drug in early clinical trials to Roche in a deal potentially worth more than half a billion dollars. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals of Birmingham said last week that the Swiss drug-maker will pay it $25 million up front for worldwide rights to BCX-4208, a drug intended to prevent transplant rejection and to treat patients with autoimmune diseases. Payments by Roche for future milestones could reach $530 million. BioCryst shares surged 37% after the deal was announced.