Sanofi Pasteur and MSD announced the closure of their joint vaccines operations in Europe. The companies plan to integrate their respective European vaccine businesses into their operations in order to independently manage their product portfolios and pursue their own distinct growth strategies in Europe. The equally-shared joint-venture was created in 1994 to develop and commercialize vaccines originating from both companies’ pipelines The project should be completed by the end of 2016, subject to local labour laws and regulations and regulatory approvals.