Baxter agrees to sell cell vaccine business

Baxter International Inc. has agreed to sell a cell-based technology for making vaccines to Nanotherapeutics Inc. Terms weren’t disclosed.

The Deerfield-based drugmaker is selling its Vero cell technology and related operations, including a production plant in Czech Republic. The cell technology is used in making flu vaccines as well as investigational vaccines for West Nile virus and others.

“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, president of Baxter BioScience.