J&J aiming to buy vaccine maker Crucell for $2.3 billion

AMSTERDAM/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson is in talks to pay 1.75 billion euros ($2.3 billion) to buy Dutch biotech Crucell as it seeks to catapult itself into the global vaccine market.

J&J, which already owns 17.9 percent of Crucell, said on Friday its potential cash offer valued Crucell shares at 24.75 euros, a 58 percent premium to Thursday's closing price.

Crucell shareholder Van Herk Group, which holds a 9.6 percent stake and is the second biggest investor after J&J, said the intended offer was "meager and too early." Analysts and bankers said a bidding war for Crucell was unlikely

J&J, the U.S.-based diversified healthcare giant, would be the latest large pharmaceutical company to invest in vaccines, an area once disdained as a low-margin business.

But several vaccines that address new conditions have become blockbuster products, and vaccines in general are viewed as having lower patent risk. Vaccine sales of the five biggest makers -- GlaxoSmithKline , Sanofi-Aventi