Pfizer closes $635M vaccines purchase from Baxter

Pfizer has completed its $635 million purchase from Baxter International Inc. of two vaccines and part of the factory in Orth, Austria, where they’re made.

It’s part of Pfizer Inc.’s strategy for building a vaccine portfolio.

The vaccines include one against the common group C strain of meningitis, a bacterial brain infection that can kill rapidly and spread easily through respiratory and throat secretions.

The other protects against tick-borne encephalitis, a viral brain infection. It sickens thousands in Europe and Asia each year and is becoming more common.

New York-based Pfizer sells the Prevnar vaccine against pneumonia, ear infections and other diseases, which brings in more than $4 billion per year. It recently got approval for its meningitis B vaccine and is developing vaccines against Staphylococcus aureus and C. difficile.