History of Vaccine Manufacturers

Currently, the main manufacturers of vaccines used in the United States include:

1. Emergent Biosolutions – Anthrax vaccine
2. GSK Vaccines – Bexsero, Boostrix, Cervarix, Energix-B, Fluarix, Havrix, Hiberix, Infanrix, Kinrix, Menveo, Pediarix, Rabavert, Rotarix
3. Mass Biologics (Massachusetts Public Health Biological Laboratories) – made the first DTP vaccine and continues making a generic Td vaccine
4. MedImmune (owned by AstraZenaca) – FluMist
5. Merck – Gardasil, MMR-II, PedvaxHIB, Pneumovax23, ProQuad, Recombivax HB, RotaTeq, Vaqta, Varivax, Zostavax
6. PaxVax – Vivotif typhoid vaccine
7. Pfizer – Prevnar, Trumenba
8. Protein Sciences Corporation – Flublok
9. Sanofi Pasteur – Adacel, Daptacel, Fluzone, Imovax Rabies, Pentacel, IPOL, Pentacel, Menactra, YF-Vax,
10. Seqirus – Afluria, Fluad, Flucelvax, Fluvirin
11. Valneva – Japanese encephalitis vaccine (IXIARO), Dukoral cholera vaccine

Of course, there used to be many more.

During the past fifty years, companies devoted solely or primarily to manufacturing vaccines (such as Lederle and Praxis) have been acquired by other pharmaceutical companies; the number of companies making vaccines has decreased from twenty-six in 1967 to seventeen in 1980 and to five in 2004 (GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi-Aventis, Merck, Wyeth, and Chiron).

Paul Offit, MD

And then there were four…

21st Century Vaccine Industry Changes

Unlike changes in the 1970s, the latest changes in the vaccine industry and among vaccine manufacturers don’t have a lot to do with companies being forced out of business because of lawsuits.

Mergers and consolidation seem to be fueling the changes.

For example, Novartis, recently considered one of the top five pharmaceutical corporations that make vaccines, sold off its vaccine business to CSL Limited and GSK.

CSL Limited then formed Seqirus to produce their flu vaccines.

In other changes:

• Pfizer acquired Wyeth in 2008
• Chiron Corp became Novartis Vaccines in 2006
• Aventis Pasteur and Sanofi merged to become Sanofi Pasteur in 2004
• SmithKline Beecham and Glaxo Wellcome merged to become GlaxoSmithKline in 2000

But you don’t really get how big these mergers are until you understand that:

• Pasteur Merieux and Aventis merged to become Aventis Pasteur in 1999
• Wyeth acquired Lederle Laboratories/Praxis in 1994
• Lederle Laboratories and Praxis  merged in 1989
• Connaught Laboratories was purchased by the French Merieux Institute, forming Pasteur Merieux in 1989

Still other vaccine manufacturers simply stopped making vaccines.

Older Vaccine Manufacturers

What ever happened to these vaccine manufacturers?

• Bionetics Research Inc.
• Cutter Laboratories – made anthrax vaccine and the Salk polio vaccine that was involved in the Cutter incident. Was bought by Bayer in 1974, but they no longer make vaccines.
• Dow Chemical (Pitman-Moore) – got out of the vaccine business in 1977-78 and stopped making 12 vaccines
• Eli Lilly – got out of the vaccine business in 1976 and stopped making 14 vaccines
• Evans Medical Ltd.
• Mich (Michigan Department of Public Health) – once made 8 vaccines
• Miles Inc. – exited the vaccine market in 1970 and stopped making 11 vaccines
• North American Vaccine, Inc. – was purchased by Baxter International Inc. in 2000, a company that sold off its remaining vaccine business in 2000, including vaccines for meningitis C and tick borne encephalitis. North American Vaccine, Inc. once sold a DTaP vaccine – Certiva.
• Organon Teknika Corporation
• Parke-Davis – purchased by Warner-Lampert in 1970, but had sold off their flu vaccine division as King Pharmaceuticals, stopping production of 16 other vaccines. King Pharmaceuticals later changed its name to Parkdale Pharmaceuticals and stopped making vaccines in 2002.
• Richardson-Merrill – got out of the vaccine business in 1976-78 and stopped making 14 vaccines
• Sclavo
• Solvay Pharmaceuticals – purchased by Abbott Laboratories in 2010, but Solvay’s flu vaccine business was sold off and their Influvac vaccine is no longer used in the United States
• Squibb & Sons – now known as Bristol-Myers Squibb, since their 1989 merger, Squibb used to make vaccines, including Maurice Hilleman‘s first Japanese B encephalitis vaccine
• Texas Department of Health Resources – exited the vaccine market in 1979 and stopped making 7 vaccines
• University of Illinois – once made the BCG vaccine

Unlike other companies that merged or had their vaccine business sold off, these companies and their vaccines are gone. And some, like Bionetics Research Inc. and Organon Teknika Corporation were acquired by the same companies (ABL). They just don’t make vaccines anymore.

For More Information on Vaccine Manufacturers:

• WHO prequalified vaccines
• CDC – List of Vaccines Used in the United States
• Vaccine Manufacturers
• Why Are Pharmaceutical Companies Gradually Abandoning Vaccines?
• At risk: vaccines – How a legal case could cripple one of modern medicine’s greatest achievements
• Weakened Defenses. Why doesn’t the world’s sole superpower have dependable supplies of all vaccines for its citizens?
• Book – Vaccine: The Controversial Story of Medicine’s Greatest Lifesaver

^{References on Vaccine Manufacturers:The Children’s Vaccine Initiative: Achieving the Vision. Historical Record of Vaccine Product License Holders in the United States
Pereira,Nuno Sousa. Vaccine Supply: Effects of Regulation and Competition. International Journal of the Economics of Business 18(2):239-271.October 2010}