(Reuters) – U.S. drugmaker Pfizer and venture capital firm Flagship Pioneering on Tuesday agreed to invest $100 million to discover and develop 10 new potential drugs targeting diseases with few or no treatment options.
Flagship, which has stakes in several other biotech companies including Moderna, will invest $50 million in the Pfizer partnership. Its drug discovery initiative, called Pioneering Medicines, will lead the research for new drug molecules.
Pfizer, which would gain access to Pioneering’s research platform and pre-clinical study resources, would provide funding for the development of each of the selected drugs and have an option to acquire them.
Flagship-backed companies could receive up to $700 million in milestones and royalties upon the successful launch and sale of any of the experimental treatments discovered and developed under partnership.
Drug developers such as Denali Therapeutics, Foghorn Therapeutics and Sana Biotechnology are some of the other companies backed by Flagship.
(Reporting by Bhanvi Satija in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
