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Pfizer is expanding its pipeline of investigational cancer drugs, announcing an agreement on Monday to buy biotechnology-based Trillium Therapeutics, based in Cambridge, Mass., For nearly $ 2.3 billion.
The acquisition marks a dramatic turnaround for Trillium, which was worth less than $ 50 million at the start of last year. Under the deal, Pfizer agreed to pay $ 18.50 per biotech share, valuing the company at a premium of more than 200% over the stock’s closing price on Friday.
By purchasing Trillium, Pfizer has access to two drugs in early clinical testing for a range of blood cancers, such as lymphoma, as well as some solid tumors. Both therapies are designed to work by blocking signaling between specific proteins on cancer and immune cells that are believed to prevent the body’s defenses from attacking tumors.
Interrupting this cellular messaging, Trillium speculates, could trigger the immune system against cancer cells, in the same way that drugs like Keytruda from Merck & Co and Tecentriq from Roche work by blocking the PD-1 and PD-L1 proteins.
“Just as the PD-1 and PD-L1 blockers have been shown to be effective immunotherapeutics for many solid tumors, the SIRPα-CD47 interaction defines a second key immune checkpoint at which the disrupting agents are expected to become another. Basic immunotherapy important for several types of cancer, particularly hematologic cancers, ”said Chris Boshoff, head of cancer drug development at Pfizer, in a statement. (CD47 refers to the protein that is overexpressed on some cancer cells, while the α signal regulatory protein, or SIRPα, is a receptor on myeloid cells.)
A number of other drugmakers are also tackling CD47 with experimental cancer treatments, including California-based biotech Forty Seven, which Gilead bought last year for $ 4.9 billion. AbbVie and Boehringer Ingelheim have each entered into licensing agreements for drugs developed by Chinese company I-Mab and French biotech OSE Immunotherapeutics.
Others, like Bristol Myers Squibb, Innovent Biologics, and Zai Lab, have compounds in early development.
Blood cancers appear to be the priority for Pfizer and Trillium, which, before Monday’s buyout, had passed two drugs to phase 1b / 2 tests on several types of tumors. Initial data showed that treatment resulted in responses, including two complete remissions, in 30 patients. Detailed data will be presented at future medical conferences, the companies said.
Pfizer and Trillium are also considering using the drugs in combination with other therapies.
For Pfizer, the deal is a continuation of a multi-year effort to strengthen the company’s cancer drugs business, a push that reflects the focus of the broader pharmaceutical industry. on oncology over the past decade. As of 2015, seven Pfizer drugs have been approved to treat breast and lung tumors as well as leukemia, including the company’s best-selling cancer drug, Ibrance.
Pfizer has also supplemented its own research and development efforts with high-priced acquisitions, paying billions of dollars in deals for Medivation and, most recently, Array BioPharma.
The $ 2.3 billion paid for Trillium is particularly rich: since 2018, only two other biotech deals have featured a higher premium than the 204% implied by Pfizer’s $ 18.50 per share offer, according to the reports. data from BioPharma Dive.
Trillium was already familiar with Pfizer, which at the end of last year invested $ 25 million in the company’s stock and installed one of its executives on Trillium’s science advisory board.
The acquisition is subject to the approval of two-thirds of the shareholders of Trillium.
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