Pharmaceutical company Pfizer and biotech Vivet Therapeutics ("Vivet"), which specializes in developing innovative gene therapy treatments for rare liver diseases, announced today at grade in a press release that "Pfizer has acquired a 15% stake in Vivet and obtained an exclusive option to acquire all of its outstanding shares." Pfizer and Vivet will collaborate on development of VTX-801, Vivet's proprietary treatment for Wilson's disease from Cima University of Navarra.

Wilson's disease is due to the mutation of the ATP7B gene, responsible for the metabolism of copper, which causes this metal to accumulate in the liver and other tissues, causing liver and neurological damage and possibly causing death. It is a rare pathology that affects one in every 30,000 people in the world. There is currently no effective treatment for the disease, so researchers at Cima developed VTX-801, a viral vector that corrects an advanced stage of Wilson's disease in preclinical models. This promising treatment is designated as an "orphan drug" by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Commission.

Gloria Gonzalez-Aseguinolaza, Director of the Gene Therapy Program at Cima, is also co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Vivet. According to grade , "the potential of VTX-801 has already been demonstrated in preclinical models and our association with Pfizer will help accelerate the development of VTX-801 and expand our other innovative technologies".

Cima University of Navarra gave the exclusive licence to Vivet in 2016.

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