Dan Kitwood/Getty Images News Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) on Thursday told employees that it is lifting early-stage research into rare diseases and “externalize” this R&D, according to Barron’s. Later stage rare disease candidates in the pipeline are not impacted by the decision. A Pfizer (PFE) spokesperson told the financial newspaper that the company will focus on non-viral-based gene therapies. This could include therapies based on mRNA, the same technology behind its COVID-19 vaccines. The decision is somewhat of a surprise given Pfizer (PFE) has a gene therapy manufacturing facility for clinical development programs in Durham, N.C. In December 2021, it said it would invest another $70M there. Now, it could potentially sell the facility, Barron’s reported. As part of the externalization process, Pfizer will move its cancer rare disease R&D to Boulder, Colo., home of Array Biopharma, which the drug giant acquired in 2019. A Pfizer (PFE) spokesperson told the newspaper the company is looking forwarding to continuing its partnership with Beam Therapeutics (BEAM), a rare disease biotech focused on CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing that has its own base editing technology.
