BioCentury
ARTICLE | Company News

PeptiDream slides on end of Pfizer deal

June 27, 2013 12:45 AM UTC

Shares of PeptiDream Inc. (Tokyo:4587) slid Y3,000 (28%) to Y7,740 on Wednesday after the company announced that it and Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) mutually terminated a 2010 deal to discover macrocyclic peptides to link to the pharma's CovX-Bodies. The decision comes nearly four months after Pfizer closed its CovX research unit. The pharma acquired CovX Pharmaceuticals Inc. in 2007 for the CovX Body technology, which linked peptides to a single antibody as a scaffold to allow half-life extension and bioavailability. PeptiDream retains rights to compounds discovered under the deal, including macrocyclic peptides the company said are "standalones," and said it plans to "take them forward and potentially partner them." Pfizer declined to provide additional details.

PeptiDream now has active target discovery deals with eight other companies using its Peptide Discovery Platform System (PDPS), which enables incorporation of modified unnatural amino acids into mRNA display peptide libraries. The company also has an internal pipeline of macrocycle projects in oncology, influenza and metabolic diseases. ...