Pfizer has licensed a preclinical cardiovascular program from Riparian Pharmaceuticals as part of an agreement that will also see the Big Pharma support further discovery efforts by the biotech.
Even for a licensing announcement, this morning’s release was light on details—while there will be upfront and milestone payments attached, the amounts weren’t disclosed. All we know for sure is that Pfizer has gained the exclusive rights to one unnamed preclinical program.
“As part of the research agreement, Pfizer will support Riparian’s efforts to discover further drug targets leading to vasoprotection and will have an option on such targets,” according to the announcement.
“I am incredibly proud of the entire Riparian team and their success translating fascinating science into an innovative therapeutic program,” Riparian CEO Will Adams, Ph.D., said in this morning’s release. “We are excited to collaborate with Pfizer and believe they are the ideal partner to advance this program and develop impactful therapies.”
Privately owned Riparian’s therapeutic programs are designed to target “key vasoprotective pathways” with the aim of reducing both vascular inflammation and a type of nonobstructive coronary artery disease called endothelial dysfunction. The company has raised more than $10 million in grants and financing to date, according to Riparian’s website, which gives little else away about the biotech’s pipeline.
Pfizer has been quiet on the cardiovascular front in recent years. As part of its $6.7 billion acquisition of Arena Pharmaceuticals in 2021, it acquired a couple of phase 2 assets in the form of a beta-3 adrenergic receptor antagonist for acute heart failure and temanogrel, which was being trialed for microvascular obstruction. But the Big Pharma revealed a few months ago that it had canned both candidates.
That still leaves ponsegromab, a growth differentiation factor 15 monoclonal antibody in phase 2 trials for heart failure, and PF-07328948, a BDK inhibitor in phase 1 for heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. Pfizer also markets Vyndaqel, which is indicated for a rare disease called transthyretin amyloidosis in patients with transthyretin amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy, among others.
Riparian's announcement comes a day after Pfizer unveiled a more ambitious pact with Flagship Pioneering to work on 10 programs, for which the Big Pharma and the VC firm will each lay down $50 million at the outset. While the targets have yet to be decided, they will address unmet needs within Pfizer’s core strategic areas of interest—vaccines, inflammation/immunology, oncology, rare diseases and internal medicine.