Zacharon, Pfizer enter research collaboration to develop drugs for orphan diseases

Zacharon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that the company has entered into a strategic research collaboration with Pfizer Inc. to develop drugs for orphan diseases, including lysosomal storage disorders. The potential value of the collaboration to Zacharon is approximately USD $210 million. The collaboration includes the potential development of compounds that may be discovered using Zacharon's innovative platform for developing small molecule drugs targeting specific carbohydrate polymers or glycans.

Zacharon, whose sole venture investor is Avalon Ventures, will receive up-front payments and research and development funding under the collaboration to develop drugs against targets that impact lysosomal storage diseases. Zacharon is also eligible under the collaboration for payments for meeting development milestones, plus royalties and sales milestones upon commercialization.

"We are very pleased to be working with Pfizer, which has broad compound development expertise, including in the area of small molecules, which should be quite useful to developing drugs for these orphan diseases," said Robin Jackman, Ph.D., president and CEO of Zacharon. "The collaboration provides validation for the potential that lies in Zacharon's broadly applicable technology platform."

Ed Mascioli, M.D., head of Pfizer's Orphan & Genetic Diseases Unit, said: "Part of Pfizer's Orphan & Genetic Diseases Unit's strategic focus relies on collaborations with companies like Zacharon that have promising technologies to help develop treatments for rare diseases.  Zacharon is an ideal partner, and we look forward to working with them to develop treatments for lysosomal storage diseases."