Pfizer On Track to Acquire Gene Therapy Company

Pfizer has acquired a 15% equity interest in French biotech Vivet Therapeutics and secured an exclusive option to acquire all outstanding shares. Vivet is a privately company dedicated to developing gene therapy treatments for inherited liver disorders with high unmet medical need. Pfizer and Vivet will collaborate on the development of VTX-801, Vivet’s proprietary treatment for Wilson disease, a life-threatening liver disorder.

Wilson disease is a devastating, rare, chronic, and potentially life-threatening liver disorder of impaired copper transport that causes serious copper poisoning. In patients with Wilson disease, a monogenetic mutation disables the normal copper biliary excretion pathway leading to excess copper accumulation in the liver and other organs including the central nervous system. Untreated, Wilson disease results in various combinations and severity of hepatic, neurologic and psychiatric symptoms, which can be fatal and can only be cured by liver transplantation. Existing therapies for Wilson disease have sub-optimal efficacy or significant side effects for many patients.

Bringing together Pfizer’s and Vivet’s expertise in liver-directed AAV gene therapy for metabolic diseases creates an opportunity to develop a breakthrough medicine that can meaningfully improve the lives of patients with Wilson disease. “VTX-801 could provide a potentially transformative therapeutic option for patients with Wilson disease by directly addressing the underlying cause of the disease—the inability to excrete copper owing to a mutation in the gene that codes for that function,” said Seng Cheng, Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of Pfizer’s Rare Disease Research Unit.

Under the terms of the transaction, Pfizer paid approximately $51 million upon signing and may pay up to $635.8 million inclusive of the option exercise payment and subject to certain clinical, regulatory, and commercial milestones. Pfizer can exercise its option to acquire 100% of Vivet following the company’s delivery of certain data from the Phase I/II clinical trial for VTX-801. (Source, Pfizer Website 20 March, 2019)