Baxter sells vaccines business to Pfizer

Baxter International Inc. has agreed to sell two vaccines and related production facilities to Pfizer Inc. for $635 million.

Deerfield-based Baxter is selling two vaccines — one for meningitis and another for tick-borne encephalitis — available outside the United States, primarily in Europe.

“This action reflects our strategic priority to optimize the portfolio and enhance focus in specific disease areas as Baxter’s BioScience organization prepares to become a separate, independent global biopharmaceutical company,” Baxter BioScience president Ludwig Hanston said in a news release.

The company is still looking to sell or partner with another company on its research and development programs related to influenza and Lyme disease.

The sale to Pfizer could be completed by the end of 2014.

In March, Baxter announced plans to split into two separate businesses — one focusing on biopharmaceuticals and the other on other medical products. Baxter’s biopharmaceuticals business includes treatments for hemophilia and other bleeding disorders. The medical products business includes intravenous solutions and nutritional therapies, anesthetics and surgery products.

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