Pfizer will buy Cambridge drug maker
Pfizer Inc. has agreed to buy closely held FoldRx Pharmaceuticals Inc. as it looks to expand into medicines for rare disorders. FoldRx, of Cambridge, is focused on developing treatments for conditions caused by the improper folding of proteins.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The deal fits with Pfizer’s strategy of focusing on medicines for niche diseases, said Geno Germano, head of Pfizer’s specialty care unit. Pfizer set up a research division in June focused on developing medicines for orphan diseases, classified as conditions affecting fewer than 200,000 people. More than 30 million Americans have one of 6,000 orphan diseases, according to the National Organization for Rare Disorders.
Pfizer, the world’s biggest drug maker, contacted FoldRx eight weeks ago after one of its researchers saw a scientific poster presented by the company, said Richard Labaudiniere, FoldRx’s chief executive. The company was founded in 2004 from a technology project developed at Scripps Research Institute.
Pfizer is looking to make acquisitions to help offset some of the revenue it will start losing next year when generic copies of its Lipitor cholesterol pill enter the market. Lipitor is the world’s top-selling medicine, with $11.4 billion in sales in 2009.
FoldRx’s most advanced drug, tafamidis meglumine, is in the final stages of testing required to get US regulatory approval to treat transthyretin amyloid polyneuropathy, a fatal disorder of the nervous system that affects about 8,000 people worldwide, Labaudiniere said.
FoldRx is also working on drugs in earlier stages of testing for Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, cystic fibrosis, and a rare heart condition called transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy. All of its research is focused on developing chemical compounds, rather than injectable biologics.
