Pfizer to buy privately-held drug discovery firm FoldRx to expand rare diseases portfolio

2 September 2010

Global drugs behemoth Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) disclosed yesterday that it has signed an agreement to acquire FoldRx Pharmaceuticals, a privately held US drug discovery and clinical development company. While specific financial terms were not revealed, Pfizer will make an upfront payment and contingent payments if certain milestones are achieved. The news saw Pfizer's share rise 2.3% to $16.28.

FoldRx's portfolio includes clinical and preclinical programs for investigational compounds to treat diseases caused by protein misfolding, which is increasingly recognized as an underlying cause in many chronic degenerative diseases. The company's lead product candidate, tafamidis meglumine, is in registration as an oral, disease-modifying therapy for TTR amyloid polyneuropathy (ATTR-PN), a progressively fatal genetic neurodegenerative disease, for which liver transplant is the only treatment option that is currently available.

MAA filed with EMEA for tafamidis

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