Pfizer Inks Two Collaboration Pacts

Pfizer and Japan's Taisho Pharmaceutical have finalized an agreement under which they will develop TS-032, a Taisho schizophrenia drug candidate now in preclinical development. Taisho will grant Pfizer exclusive rights outside Japan in exchange for an initial payment of $22 million. Meanwhile, Pfizer has agreed to extend a collaboration under which it uses NicOx's nitric oxide-donating technology in ophthalmology drug research. Under the original agreement, signed in 2006, Pfizer paid a licensing fee of about $7 million and invested $22 million in NicOx. The extended agreement allows for more than $440 million in potential milestone payments.