Pfizer acquires Therachon and its dwarfism drug

Pfizer has announced it will pay $340 million upfront to snap up rare disease biotech Therachon, which is developing treatments for a form of dwarfism and short bowel syndrome (SBS). There’s also an additional $470 million worth of payments on the table contingent on Therachon achieving certain milestones in the development and commercialisation of TA-46, a drug for the treatment of the rare genetic condition achondroplasia, the most common form of short-limbed dwarfism. There are currently no approved treatments for achondroplasia, which can result in serious cardiovascular, neurological and metabolic complications and affects approximately 250,000 people worldwide – although BioMarin has also caught analysts’ eyes with its own investigational treatment for the disease, vosoritide.