Vaccines

North American Vaccine was acquired by Baxter in 2000, and specialised in proprietary conjugation technology, which enhances the immunogenicity of bacterial polysaccharides by linking them to carrier proteins. This innovative technology has already successfully been applied in a vaccine, which is now licensed in 28 countries. North American Vaccine's advanced vaccine technology not only provides important new directions for novel vaccines for both paediatric and adult use, but also has the potential to improve the safety and efficacy of those currently available.

Baxter Vaccines continues to look to the future, with state-of-the-art research centres in Austria and the USA dedicated to the prevention of a broad spectrum of infectious diseases in infants, children and adults. To complement our own research, we have formed a strategic alliance with the UK and US based vaccines company, Acambis, with whom we are working on new technologies for novel vaccines.

A $170 million investment in a new start-of-the-art cell culture production facility will enable Baxter to produce multiple different vaccines using the company's proprietary production process. Baxter will then be able to produce recombinant and cell culture vaccines in one facility.

Baxter's strategic alliance with Acambis also opens many exciting new possibilities. Using the Vero cell line, products under development include vaccines against Japanese Encephalitis, West Nile, typhoid and travellers' diarrhoea.

Using these technologies, Baxter is currently also developing baccines against serogroup B meningococci, serogroup CYW meningococci, Group A streptococci, Lyme disease and Urinary Tract Infections (UTI).