Pfizer, Flagship Pioneering to invest $100 mln in drug discovery (updated)

Denali Therapeutics

18/07/2023 17:13

(Adds details from interview of Flagship executive in
paragraphs 1-5, quote from Pfizer executive in paragraph 7)
       July 18 (Reuters) - U.S. drugmaker Pfizer  PFE.N  and
venture firm Flagship Pioneering on Tuesday said they would
invest $100 million together to develop up to 10 new potential
drugs for areas including internal medicine, oncology,
infectious diseases and immunology.
    Flagship, which has incubated biotech companies, most
famously Moderna Inc  MRNA.O , and Pfizer will each invest $50
million. Flagship's drug discovery initiative Pioneering
Medicines will lead the exploration process.
    Paul Biondi, president of Flagship's Pioneering unit and a
former top Bristol Myers Squibb  BMY.N  executive, said the
partnership will take advantage of Flagship's abilities to
develop novel technologies towards bigger disease areas. 
    Pfizer "has the ability to really pull things from a
clinical medical (phase) into commercial perspective. We're
excited about marrying that up," Biondi said in an interview.
    Under the terms of the agreement, Flagship-backed companies
could receive up to $700 million in milestones and royalties
upon the successful launch and sale of any of the experimental
treatments discovered and developed under partnership. That
would be up to $7 billion if the partnership were to develop 10
medicines.
    Pfizer, which would gain access to Pioneering's research
platform and pre-clinical study resources, would provide funding
for the development of each of the selected drugs and have an
option to acquire them.
    "This collaboration is an exciting opportunity for Pfizer to
bring deep scientific expertise and apply our development and
regulatory strength to Flagship's diverse portfolio of
technology platforms," Pfizer Chief Scientific Officer Mikael
Dolsten said in a statement.
    Drug developers such as Denali Therapeutics  DNLI.O ,
Foghorn Therapeutics  FHTX.O  and Sana Biotechnology  SANA.O 
are some of the other companies backed by Flagship. 

 (Reporting by Bhanvi Satija in Bengaluru and Michael Erman in
New Jersey; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar, Alexandra Hudson)
 ((Bhanvi.Satija@thomsonreuters.com; Outside U.S. +91
9873062788;))