Pfizer Invests $120M to Advance Biotechnology Innovation

January 14, 2021 - Pfizer recently announced that it has invested $120 million in four clinical-stage companies that focus on biotechnology innovation, oncology, rare disease, and immunology treatments.

Through the Pfizer Breakthrough Growth Initiative (PBGI), the company’s initial allocations include $10 million to Canada-based ESSA Pharma, a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on developing therapies for the treatment of patients with prostate cancer. 

Another $25 million will go to Trillium Therapeutics, an immune-oncology company that aims to develop innovative therapies for prostate cancer. 

Vedanta Biosciences, which develops new categories of therapies for immune-mediated diseases, will also get $25 million from Pfizer, while $60 million will go to Homology Medicine, a clinical-stage genetic medicines company based in Massachusetts that focuses on treatments for rare genetic diseases with unmet medical needs.

In total, Pfizer expects to dole out a total of $500 million to biotechnology companies to ensure the continuity of promising clinical development programs that may be of strategic interest to the company. 

“Pfizer has a long history of collaborating across the healthcare ecosystem with the shared goal of turning great science into innovative new medicines,” Debbie Baron, senior vice president of business development at Pfizer, said in the announcement.

“Our investments in Homology, Vedanta, Trillium, and ESSA reflect our commitment to find new and creative ways to leverage Pfizer’s resources to deliver breakthroughs to patients,” Baron continued.

At the beginning of June 2020, Pfizer established PBGI to focus on making non-controlling equity investments in clinical-stage public companies. The primary focus was on companies with small-to medium-sized market capitalizations across various therapeutic areas.

The specific therapeutic areas include internal medicine, inflammation and immunology, oncology, rare diseases, vaccines, and hospital. 

As part of the initiative, Pfizer’s partner companies have the opportunity to access the company’s resources in research, clinical development, and manufacturing. 

Biotechnology innovation has become more prominent in the healthcare space, with new developments including biosensors, 3D bioprinting, gene editing, and virtual reality. 

Fujifilm Corporation, a biotechnology company known for its imaging and information technology presence in the healthcare and health IT space, recently invested $40 million to establish a new processing facility in the greater-Boston area.

Specifically, the facility aims to advance viral vector manufacturing and perform cutting-edge research in the field of advanced therapies. In the world of medicine, viral vectors are important because they are designed to deliver genetic material into cells. 

The investment will go to Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) for biologics, viral vaccines, and viral vectors. This will be the third location for viral vector CDMO services provided by Fujifilm.

The facility began process development operations in the fall of 2020 and the contract manufacturing services for early phase clinical trials will begin at the site in fall of 2023.

To advance initiatives and investments such as Fujifilm’s, MassBio and Bayer announced the Center for Regulatory Excellence in mid-March.

The center is a first-of-its-kind forum that will be open to all organizations in the biotechnology and digital health space to learn from regulatory experts. 

Specifically, the Center for Regulatory Excellence will provide formal mentorship and regular seminars to ensure early drug identification, alleviation of regulatory issues, and enhance overall success. 

Each start-up and biotech session will focus on certain areas of interest linked with the regulatory process and will entail lectures, open dialogue, and networking.

Oftentimes, challenging regulatory landscape presents a roadblock for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. But Fujifilm explained that the center will aim to help companies developing innovative products to successfully deliver these products to patients in need safely and efficiently.