Pfizer acquires Amplyx Pharmaceuticals to advance its expertise in infectious disease treatment

Pfizer announced on Wednesday, April 28, that it has acquired Amplyx Pharmaceuticals. The company stated that the purchase would bolster its portfolio as it offers the opportunity to strengthen “Pfizer’s expertise and deep heritage in infectious disease.”

As per Reuters, Amplyx Pharmaceuticals is based in San Diego, and it is developing new treatments against drug-resistant microbes in patients with compromised immune systems.

The anti-fungal drug has been named fosmanogepix, and it is now in the second phase of clinical trials.

Pfizer to continue testing on Amplyx’s experimental drug

The New York-headquartered multinational pharmaceutical company acquired Amplyx while it is in the middle of conducting trials for its anti-fungal drug that is hoped to effectively fight off drug-resistant infections that ravage the immune system of patients. Since this is the case, Pfizer will not abandon but continue the clinical trials of this experimental drug.

If Amplyx's fosmanogepix drug will show good results and eventually be approved, it will become the first type of new antifungal treatment to come in the last 20 years. This is an important drug because it can kill fungi, like bacteria, that have turned resistant to common drugs or medicines.

Why Pfizer is further expanding its infectious disease folio

It was estimated that if this kind of drug will not be developed, drug-resistant superbugs may possibly kill at least 10 million people by 2050. This is why Pfizer has been expanding its portfolio for treatments that can fight these threatening superbugs.

Pfizer noted that hospitalized patients’ immune systems tend to become weaker since the drugs they take do not work, and this has become a problem not just for the ill but for doctors as well. This scenario just showed how much people need effective anti-fungal treatments for such patients.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has been a stark reminder of the devastating impact of infectious diseases, highlighting the continuous need for new anti-infective therapies to treat both emerging and difficult to treat bacterial, viral and fungal infections,” Pfizer Hospital’s global president, Angela Lukin, said in a press release. “We are deeply committed to helping patients suffering from infectious diseases, continuously seeking opportunities to build our portfolio of anti-infective therapies.”