Biotech Firm Angiosyn to Be Bought by Pfizer

Angiosyn Inc., a San Diego start-up working on a treatment for age-related blindness, said Thursday that it had agreed to be acquired by Pfizer Inc. for $527 million.

If completed, the deal would be the latest example of how industry giants are turning to California biotechnology companies to replenish their product development pipelines.

Such deals are important for Pfizer, according to some analysts, because the drug maker faces a series of patent expirations in the next two years and declining sales of its pain pills Celebrex and Bextra.

“The company is entering a critical period,” Prudential Equities analyst Tim Anderson wrote in a research note.

Angiosyn, founded in 2003 by three scientists at Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, is developing a drug for macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in people over 50. The drug has been tested only in mice, but if successful, it would strengthen Pfizer’s position in an increasingly competitive market that could be worth billions in sales.

Last month Pfizer and partner Eyetech Pharmaceuticals received Food and Drug Administration approval to sell Macugen, the first biotech drug for macular degeneration. But at least a dozen other drugs for the disease, including Genentech Inc.’s Lucentis, are in clinical trials, said William Li, president of the Angiogenesis Foundation. All the treatments work by inhibiting a buildup of blood vessels -- known as angiogenesis -- in the eye.

“Pfizer was the first to cross the finish line, but there is a flotilla of promising candidates behind it,” Li said.

Angiosyn co-founder Paul Schimmel said negotiations with Pfizer came as the small company reached a crucial juncture. Angiosyn is close to beginning human tests of its drug, a costly process that requires an “experienced, sophisticated organization,” Schimmel said. Angiosyn has just two full-time employees.

The company had “to consider at this juncture any and all offers,” said Schimmel, a chemist who has co-founded four publicly traded biotech companies, including Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Lexington, Mass. “It was a challenging decision for us, but we like Pfizer very much.”

Pfizer didn’t respond to a request for comment. Its shares rose 10 cents to $24.98 on Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange.