Baxter International will sell its Vero cell technology and related assets, including its production facility in Bohumil, Czech Republic, to Nanotherapeutics.

The agreement with Nanotherapeutics includes all assets related to the Vero platform, including vaccines for H5N1, H1N1, and seasonal influenza. The agreement also includes investigational vaccine programs for Ross River virus, Chikungunya disease, and West Nile virus.

Nanotherapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company with an expertise in preclinical and clinical development, formulation optimization, and cGMP manufacturing of biopharmaceutical products and medical devices. The company reports that its platform technologies can be used with all drug types, ranging from small molecules to proteins and vaccines.

In July, Baxter sold its marketed vaccines as well as a portion of its facility in Orth, Austria, where these vaccines are manufactured, to Pfizer for $635 million.

''The divestiture of the vaccines franchise will allow Baxter BioScience to enhance focus in core therapeutic areas of hematology, oncology, and immunology, as it prepares to become an independent biopharmaceutical company,'' said Ludwig Hantson, Ph.D., president of Baxter BioScience. ''In addition, these transactions provide flexibility to direct resources toward strategic priorities that will drive future growth.'' 

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