Playing chicken

NEW YORK—Pfizer Animal Health announced recently its decision to acquire international ag-biotech company Embrex for approximately $17 per share, in cash, or $155 million. The offer represents a 42.6 percent premium over the company's closing share price on November 14. The move would see Pfizer re-enter the poultry business via Embrex's Inovoject vaccine delivery system.

 

"Biologicals are a rapidly growing segment of Pfizer Animal Health's overall sales," said Juan Ramon Alaix, Pfizer Animal Health president. "We are excited by the chance to dedicate a portion of our research investment to discover and develop new vaccines that will address unmet needs of poultry producers and their birds."

 

With 2005 sales of $2.2 billion, Pfizer Animal Health is a major player in the veterinary medicines market, which has seen significant growth in recent years, in part triggered by recent outbreaks of infectious diseases such as avian flu and BSE.