Pfizer ($PFE) has taken another step toward externalizing research and development. The U.S. drug giant sealed a licensing deal with Russian drug developer SatRx, which has garnered exclusive rights to Pfizer's DPP1-IVi compound for treating Type 2 diabetes.
The deal with SatRx builds on Pfizer's agreement last year to collaborate with Russian pharma investment and R&D outfit ChemRar Hi-Tech Center on treatments for a host of ailments. In this latest pact, SatRx, a ChemRar portfolio company, plans to develop Pfizer's PF-00734200 as a solo agent or in combination with other drugs against diabetes for all markets outside of China. And Pfizer stands to gain milestones and royalties on sales of the drug, according to a press release. No other financial details were revealed.
Pfizer has sought new avenues to advance its pipeline outside of its own R&D divisions, with CEO Ian Read vowing to slash drug research spending as the world's largest drugmaker hunts for efficient means to bring new drugs to market. In Russia, the government and investors have welcomed ideas and innovation from U.S. and other companies to boost its life sciences sector. And priority has gone to treatments that tackle major health problems in Russia, where, for example, the number of diabetes cases has risen at an alarming rate similar to other developed countries.
"This licensing agreement with Pfizer provides SatRx with essential background for development of fully innovative tools to tune the metabolism of patients with T2D and obesity," Yulia Baybikova, SatRx's general manager, said in a statement. "Synergistic actions of DPP-IVi and proprietary new SatRx molecules active in the incretin metabolic cascade will provide significant therapeutic benefits and promises to increase patient compliance and quality of life."
- here's the release
- see the Pharma Times article