Sanofi (NSDQ:SNY) may be one of the biggest vaccine manufacturers in the world, but the quick rise of the mRNA vaccine platform during the pandemic caught the company by surprise.
The company could be on the way to rectify that with its $3.2 billion acquisition of its mRNA partner Translate Bio.
Sanofi began working with Lexington, Mass.–based Translate Bio in 2018 and expanded that partnership last June with a $2 billion collaboration.
In the most recent deal, Sanofi will pay $38 per share for Translate Bio’s shares.
Sanofi plans to use mRNA technology for various clinical uses beyond vaccines, including immunology, oncology and rare diseases.
The mRNA-based Moderna (NSDQ:MRNA) and Pfizer-BioNTech (NYSE:PFE/NSDQ:BNTX) vaccines have generated tens of billions of dollars in sales in 2021. Pfizer anticipates the BNT162b2 vaccine could generate $33.5 billion in sales this year. Moderna’s market valuation hit $140 billion on Aug. 2, while BioNTech’s has surpassed $80 billion.
For the sake of comparison, Sanofi generated $41 billion in revenue last year.
Sanofi is developing a COVID-19 vaccine with GSK that could hit the market later this year. That vaccine, however, is not based on an mRNA platform.
The company is also developing an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine with Translate Bio. The two companies announced last October that they had launched a Phase 1/2 clinical trial for an mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine.