On November 3, 2009, Novartis (NYSE: NVS) announced it would pay $125 million for an 85% stake in vaccine maker Zhejiang Tianyuan Bio. One year later, the transaction has still not been approved, casting some doubt on whether it will ever be closed. Although the deal stipulated just one year for completion, it also locked up Zhejiang Tianyuan for 18 months, implying that the acquisition is not completely dead.