Pfizer and BIND Therapeutics agree global collaboration

Pfizer is to ally with BIND Therapeutics on research involving a new class of potentially effective targeted therapeutics.

The collaboration will see Pfizer selecting a number of Accurins – highly selective targeted and programmable therapeutics created by BIND – for preclinical research, with an option of taking them into full clinical development and commercialisation if successful.

It will take advantage of BIND's Medicinal Nanoengineering platform to impart tissue and cellular targeting capabilities to molecularly targeted drugs, allowing for the production of therapies that can act against diseased tissues and cells more effectively, with minimal off-target exposure.

Accurins hold the potential to improve patient outcomes in areas such as oncology, inflammatory diseases and cardiovascular disorders.

Rod MacKenzie, senior vice-president and head of PharmaTherapeutics research and development at Pfizer, said: "We look forward to working with the team at BIND Therapeutics to create targeted Accurins, with the aim of optimising the therapeutic potential of future small molecules."

Earlier this month, Pfizer announced plans to work alongside the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia on research into new therapies for paediatric conditions, as part of its Centers for Therapeutic Innovation scheme.