Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp. said today it will acquire a Canadian pharmaceutical firm to develop vaccines, together with a U.S. firm’s subsidiary, to strengthen the field of vaccines in which growth is anticipated on a global base.

With the deal for up to about 16.9 billion yen, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma will make Medicago Inc., based in Quebec, its subsidiary, according to the Osaka-based Japanese drugmaker.

Mitsubishi Tanabe now has a 6.0 percent stake in Medicago, while tobacco maker Philip Morris International Inc.’s Dutch subsidiary, Philip Morris Investments B.V., owns a 38.5 percent stake in it.

Mitsubishi Tanabe and Philip Morris Investments will buy Medicago shares from shareholders to raise their respective stakes to 60 percent and 40 percent and operate Medicago as their joint venture.

Mitsubishi Tanabe and Medicago have been conducting joint research on vaccines since 2012.