Pfizer and biotechnology startup developer Flagship Pioneering are collaborating to create 10 new medication candidates, with each business committing $50 million to the project.
Beyond Moderna, Flagship has a portfolio of over 40 businesses, several of which have extensive drug-making programs in unconventional scientific fields of study. It has developed a program called Pioneering Medicines that approaches medication development differently.
Flagship promotes it as a means to use the research these businesses do, identify ideas that have potential but may not have the time to develop and advance them with collaborators.
At Pfizer, we are expanding our efforts to pursue potential breakthrough science with unique approaches and funding mechanisms designed to leverage the dynamic scientific ecosystem. 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, translating early-stage innovation to potential medicines.
- Chief Scientific Officer and President of Pfizer Inc., Mikael Dolsten
Presently, Flagship is working with Moderna's competition for the COVID-19 vaccine, Pfizer. The businesses highlighted that Pioneering Medicines would collaborate with Pfizer's R&D leadership to create up to 10 medications. However, they did not specify the ailments they wanted to target.
Executive Partner of Pioneering Medicines, Paul Biondi, says a shared feeling of urgency to create breakthrough medications that benefit patients motivates Flagship and Pfizer to form this strategic cooperation.
According to the agreement's details, which were released on July 18, Pfizer will finance the development of several drugs that it may later decide to buy.
Flagship and its affiliated firms might get up to $700 million in milestone payments for each product if it successfully reaches the market. Always on the verge of "patent cliffs," major pharmaceutical corporations like Pfizer constantly scour the labs of smaller biotech firms looking for innovative new medicines.
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