OWNING COLLABORATION

Alberto Visintin

Associate Research Fellow

"We're creating a whole new model of research, working side by side with leading academics on a number of exciting programs, ranging from kidney disease to Alzheimer's. My team is collaborating on TM4SF1, a protein indicated in prostate cancer, with a true giant in the field, Dr. Hal Dvorak of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. We're pushing the science forward and learning so much from each other, so quickly, it's inspiring."

Working
Together to
Speed the
Science

Pfizer's Centers for Therapeutic Innovation (CTI) represents a significant departure from the traditional lengthy and linear process of target discovery to eventual drug development. Collaborations such as the one between CTI Boston and Dr. Hal Dvorak of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center exemplify this new model, which seeks to expedite the translation of science into medicine.

CTI's open innovation model puts Pfizer scientists side by side with academic investigators in the lab, where they share their understanding of target biology and translational medicine expertise. Pfizer funds preclinical and clinical development programs and offers equitable intellectual property and ownership rights to our CTI partners. In addition, we provide access to select Pfizer compound libraries, proprietary screening methods, antibody development technologies, and a wealth of dedicated resources and support from Pfizer experts in drug development and protein sciences.

The ultimate goal of each collaboration is to validate a drug candidate that can be moved into further clinical testing.

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“An academic lab can only go so far. We're good at identifying targets, but if you want to make monoclonal antibodies or take this to the clinic…a partner like Pfizer offers extraordinary resources.”

 Dr. Hal Dvorak Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Dr. Dvorak, a research pioneer whose ideas helped spur the advance of targeted cancer drugs, was one of the first scientists to demonstrate that cancer cells secreted vascular endothelial growth factor, the initial idea behind the development of drugs that cut off the blood supply to tumors to stop their spread.

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Delivering on the Promise

With four locations in the biomedical research hubs of Boston, New York, San Diego and San Francisco, and a network of 20 academic medical center partners, CTI now has a portfolio of 26 programs across a variety of disease areas. Leveraging the respective strengths of these efforts, Pfizer hopes to demonstrate “proof-of-mechanism” on three candidate selections per year beginning in 2013.

26CTI
Programs
In Development
20Academic
Medical Centers
Partnering with CTI

CTI Boston

Our CTI Boston lab is located in the same building as offices of renowned research centers of Boston Children's Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, which places some potential partners just an elevator ride away.

5-10YEARS
Potentially Saved in Drug
Development Under CTI
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TM4SF1 Program

The TM4SF1 protein is over-expressed in tumor-feeding vasculature and certain cancers (such as colon and liver), presenting a potential target for monoclonal antibodies designed to destroy tumor-feeding vessels, thus starving cancer from its nutrients and inducing its regression. This program began with an antibody asset identified by Dr. Dvorak and his proposal for developing an antibody conjugate therapy. In the collaborative process with CTI, the team developed an antibody drug conjugate that is being tested for safety and efficacy in animal tumor models. The collaboration eventually included Global Biotherapeutics, CTI La Jolla and Pfizer's Oncology research unit. In a little over a year, a lead biologic candidate was exhibiting great efficacy in not only reducing tumors in vivo but also in keeping the tumors from growing back. Research continues. It is estimated that this particular collaboration has taken several years and great expense out of the research and development process.

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