Oncology

Pfizer Oncology strives to advance the frontiers of cancer biology and to translate this knowledge into high-impact medicines for cancer patients. Our core areas of interest include: Tumor Cell Biology; Precision Medicine; Tumor Targeted Therapeutics; Integrative Biotechnology; and Immuno- Oncology. In Tumor Cell Biology we are focused on oncogenic drivers, tumor metabolism, and epigenetics. Precision Medicine represents an integrated cluster of technology platforms and translational science configured to enable patient-tailored, hypothesis-driven experimental medicine approaches. Our Integrative Biotechnology Group supports novel target identification and validation through functional genomics, proteomics, and other “omic” approaches.

We are interested in establishing alliances to develop therapeutics, expand disease biology understanding, and identify biomarkers that impact:

• Breast, prostate, lung, colorectal, ovarian, renal, and hematologic cancers
• Cancers prevalent in Asia (e.g., gastric cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma)

Specific areas of interest include:

• Oncogenic signaling mechanisms
• Tumor metabolism
• Epigenetics
• Small molecule immune modulators
• Directed tumor cell killing via immune-based mechanisms
• Cancer vaccines and oncolytic viruses
• Precision medicine
• Functional genomics
• Liquid biopsy technologies
• Technologies that deliver drugs asymmetrically to specific tissues
• Targeted nanoparticle technologies and assets

Immuno-Oncology

The recent clinical successes reported with cancer immunotherapy are reshaping the field of oncology. Pfizer plans to significantly advance its leadership in this area by partnering to develop cutting edge science beyond the current mainstream immune checkpoints, oncolytic viruses, DNA and RNA based cancer vaccines, including shared tumor neoantigen approaches, and small molecules. The IO programs at Pfizer uniquely leverage a combination of our scientific and clinical strength in immuno-biology alongside our historical expertise in developing first-in-class cancer and vaccine therapies.

Pfizer’s efforts in IO include external collaborative alliances with leading academic medical centers and visionary biotech firms. Our IO efforts are driven primarily within our La Jolla, CA based laboratory site called Cancer Immunology Discovery Unit (CID). Leveraging its strength in biotherapeutics alongside core expertise in immuno-biology, CID has a strong record of converting validated targets into novel protein-based therapeutics and advancing molecular and cell-based IO treatments. We would like to partner in the IO space on pre-clinical and clinical stage immunomodulatory opportunities, with an emphasis on those agents that directly engage or impact T-cell and other tumor infiltrating lymphocyte cell populations.

We are interested in establishing alliances to develop and access:

• Novel Targets for Overcoming Tumor-induced Immune Resistance
  • Targets that promote immune response whether alone or in combination with checkpoint inhibitors
  • Targets that provide Innate immune activation
  • Targets that reduce immune suppression
• Platform Technologies
  • Mechanisms, biomarkers, and screening approaches to identify and accelerate the most promising combination therapies
  • New modalities to induce immune responses: Bi-specific and Tri-specific antibody/cytokine platforms, nanoparticles, oncolytic viruses, tumor vaccines, or novel T cell receptors (TCRs)
  • Identification of new immune modulating targets
  • Monitoring of immune-supporting and immune-suppressing biomarkers within the tumor as well as of the anti-tumor immune responses
  • Novel animal models that accurately recapitulate human tumor-immune system interactions

Not actively seeking partnering opportunities in:

• Antisense/siRNA/shRNA therapeutics
• Reformulated cytotoxic agents
• Radioconjugates
• Cell therapies