Two vaccine makers will build plants

Merck & Co. and Sanofi-Aventis are separately building new plants outside their home countries to build up global vaccine supplies.

Merck will spend $280 million to construct a vaccine plant in Carlow Town, Ireland. There, with help from Ireland???s Industrial Development Agency (IDA), the U.S. company has acquired a 65-acre IDA business and technology park.

The plant will be the first stand-alone human vaccine facility in Ireland and is expected to create 170 jobs for skilled and technical employees by 2011. Merck also intends to collaborate with Irish universities on biologics production.

Meanwhile, Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccine division of France???s Sanofi-Aventis, will build an influenza vaccine plant in Shenzhen, China. Sanofi Pasteur plans to begin construction in 2008 with the goal of producing seasonal influenza vaccines for the Chinese market by 2012.

The facility will be designed for easy expansion to keep pace with anticipated market growth, Sanofi says. If a human influenza pandemic is declared and the virus strain is identified, the company says it will be able to switch production to make pandemic influenza vaccines.