Pfizer, Crown Bioscience team up to research and develop novel therapeutics for Asian cancers

Pfizer (PFE) and Crown Bioscience, Inc. (Crown) announced today that they have entered into a collaboration to research and develop novel therapeutics for Asian cancers. Specific treatments for Asian cancers represent an important unmet medical need as well as a significant market opportunity.

Under the terms of this agreement, Crown will receive an upfront payment and research funding, as well as milestone payments based on the achievement of preclinical and clinical goals.

The companies will work together to discover and advance multiple candidates for clinical development. The work will take place at Crown’s new research facility located in Taicang (near Shanghai), China.

“I am delighted to be collaborating with Pfizer’s exceptional oncology group,” says Alex Wu, CEO of Crown. “I am also very happy that Pfizer is focusing on and dedicating resources to address a very important unmet medical need for the Asian populations. This new collaboration extends an already very successful partnership between Crown and Pfizer and further demonstrates Crown’s commitment to becoming an outstanding cancer research company in Asia.”

“We are delighted to be working closely with Crown to implement a focused drug discovery and development strategy relating to the tumors most prevalent in the Asia region,” says Neil Gibson, Chief Scientific Officer of Pfizer’s Oncology Research Unit. “By doing so, we believe we can capitalize on the oncology expertise of Crown and enhance our ability to bring novel therapeutics to the marketplace that will benefit cancer patients in Asia.”