Pfizer gains rights to CMV vaccine with controlling stake in Redvax

US pharma giant Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) has acquired a controlling interest in Redvax GmbH, a spin-off from Redbiotec, a privately held Swiss biopharmaceutical company, based in Zurich-Schlieren.

This transaction, for which financial terms were not revealed, provides access to a preclinical human cytomegalovirus (CMV) vaccine candidate, as well as intellectual property and a technology platform related to a second, undisclosed vaccine program, Pfizer noted.

The CMV vaccine program will complement Pfizer’s robust research portfolio of high-quality and life-saving investigational vaccines and place Pfizer among the leaders in CMV research and development. CMV is a herpes virus, infecting 50%-90% of the adult population, with a majority remaining asymptomatic. A large segment of young adults, especially women of childbearing age who remain CMV negative, are at high risk of CMV infection during pregnancy and of passing the infection on to the unborn child (congenital infection).