Pfizer adds Boston to its Centers for Therapeutic Innovation
Joins San Francisco and New York hubs announced last year
Pfizer has announced its third network of research partnerships with medical and academic institutions in the US, naming eight partners in and around Boston, Massachusetts.
The new partnership follows similar arrangements in San Francisco and New York as part of the pharmaceutical firm’s Centers for Therapeutic Innovation (CTI) launched last year.
The Boston group includes Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston University School of Medicine, Children’s Hospital Boston, Harvard University, Partners HealthCare, Tufts Medical Center, Tufts University, as well as University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester.
In addition, Pfizer said it would lease about 16,000ft2 of laboratory space at the Center for Life Science, in the Longwood Medical Area in Boston, where company researchers will work with their new academic partners. Pfizer says the facility will serve as the world headquarters for CTI.
Pfizer will invest around US$100m in the Boston-CTI partnership over the next five years. The investment will include milestone payments for partners, in addition to direct funding of research.
‘We believe the Centers for Therapeutic Innovation are an industry leading model of collaboration and innovation,’ said Anthony Coyle, vice president of CTI.
‘Boston, with its wealth of scientific and medical expertise, is well suited to serve as headquarters for CTI.’
Jose Carlos Gutierrez-Ramos, senior vice president and head of BioTherapeutics Research and Development for Pfizer, added: ‘The Centers for Therapeutic Innovation is a network of partnerships between Pfizer and academic medical centres that aims to accelerate and transform drug discovery and development.’
