Pfizer to purchase FoldRx Pharmaceuticals
Expands pipeline of potential treatments for chronic degenerative diseases
Pfizer is to buy privately held US drug discovery company FoldRx Pharmaceuticals for an undisclosed sum, expanding its pipeline of potential products.
FoldRx, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is developing potential treatments for diseases caused by protein misfolding, which is increasingly recognised as an underlying cause in many chronic degenerative diseases.
The company's leading drug candidate is tafamidis meglumine, a therapy for treating TTR amyloid polyneuropathy (ATTR-PN), a progressively fatal genetic neurodegenerative disease, for which the only current therapy is a liver transplant.
Pfizer said it would make an upfront payment to FoldRx, as well as milestones payments, although no further details were given. The closing of the transaction is subject to regulatory approval in the US and is expected to take place later this year.
FoldRx has filed a marketing authorisation application (MAA) for tafamidis with the European Medicines Agency, and is currently in communication with the FDA to define its pathway for filing in the US. Tafamidis has orphan drug status in the US and EU and Fast Track designation in the US for the treatment of ATTR-PN.
‘This transaction will add another important component to the growing portfolio of innovative in-line and investigational medicines for orphan and rare diseases within Pfizer's Specialty Care Business,’ said Geno Germano, president and general manager, Pfizer Specialty Care Business Unit.
