Pfizer Adds To HGH Franchise

Pfizer is paying $295 million for the worldwide rights to Opko Health’s hGH-CTP, a long-acting recombinant human growth hormone analog in Phase III studies as a treatment for growth hormone deficiency in adults. The treatment is also in a Phase II trial in kids. Opko could reap another $275 million in milestone payments for hitting regulatory goals. Opko aims to reduce the dosing of growth hormone from once daily to once weekly. Pfizer says Opko’s treatment will complement its own human growth hormone product, Genotropin, which had $772 million in sales last year.