Wave Life Sciences Ltd. (NASDAQ:WVE) and Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) partnered to design and develop stereopure nucleic acid therapeutics for metabolic diseases. The partners will investigate therapies for five genetically defined hepatic targets selected by the pharma.
Wave will design and develop the nucleic acids from discovery through clinical candidate selection. The biotech will use Pfizer’s hepatic targeting technology and its own technology, which can control precisely the arrangement of Sp or Rp nucleotides within a given nucleic acid and then produce millions of exact copies of the oligonucleotide.
The deal with Pfizer is Wave’s first with an external partner.
Pfizer may opt to license candidates once they are selected. Pfizer has chosen two targets, one of which is apolipoprotein C-III (APOCIII; APOC3). The second is undisclosed. Pfizer is to select the remaining targets within 18 months.
Full article at BioCentury.