Lundbeckfonden Ventures’ portfolio company Amplyx Pharmaceuticals is acquired by Pfizer

Copenhagen, April 28, 2021:

Lundbeckfonden Ventures announced today that its portfolio company, Amplyx Pharmaceuticals, a privately-held company dedicated to the development of therapies for debilitating and life-threatening diseases that affect people with compromised immune systems, has been acquired by Pfizer Inc.  Amplyx’s lead compound, Fosmanogepix (APX001), is a novel investigational asset under development for the treatment of invasive fungal infections.

More than 1.5 million cases of invasive fungal infections occur worldwide each year, with mortality rates as high as 30-80% across infection types[i]. Fosmanogepix has a novel mechanism of action with the potential to target fungal strains resistant to standard of care therapy. As there are only three classes of antifungal medications currently available, antifungal resistance can severely limit treatment options; a potential new therapeutic class may therefore be of importance for both physicians and patients[ii]. There has been no novel therapeutic class of antifungal therapies approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in nearly 20 years.

“Pfizer’s hospital-focused business unit is an ideal home for our therapeutic candidates, which focus on treating diseases that affect people with compromised immune systems,” said Ciara Kennedy, Ph.D., president, and chief executive officer of Amplyx. “In particular there is an urgent need to address life-threatening fungal infections and we feel confident that Pfizer will help these promising assets meet their full potential for patients.  We are grateful for the support from Lundbeckfonden Ventures, and our other world-class biotechnology investors, who share our commitment to bringing life-saving, innovative medicines to immunocompromised patients.”

”It’s been an interesting journey for Lundbeckfonden Ventures investing in Amplyx back in 2019 as part of a strong investor syndicate backing the series C financing. Amplyx has been highly focused and deeply anchored in infectious diseases progressing development of a completely novel concept for the treatment of invasive fungi and molds. We are pleased to see the novel anti-infective treatments in the pipeline are looking very promising. In the hands of Pfizer Inc., highly committed to treatment of infectious diseases, we’re looking forward to seeing Amplyx Pharmaceuticals’ antifungal therapies take it to the next level, hopefully entering the market. The company’s antifungal therapies such as Fosmanogepix certainly have the potential to help patients with life-threatening fungal infections all over the world,” said Mette Kirstine Agger, managing partner of Copenhagen-based Lundbeckfonden Ventures at the Lundbeck Foundation.

Fosmanogepix is currently in Phase 2 clinical trials evaluating the safety and efficacy of both intravenous (IV) and oral formulations for the treatment of patients with life-threatening invasive fungal infections caused by molds, yeasts and rare molds (e.g., Aspergillus spp, Candida spp including Candida auris, Fusarium spp. and Scedosporium spp). Fosmanogepix has demonstrated broad-spectrum activity in-vitro and has shown wide distribution to various tissues including the brain, lung, kidney and eye. With both IV and oral formulations in development, Fosmanogepix may allow for the transition from IV to oral, thus potentially enabling, for the benefit of the patients, the continuation of treatment outside the hospital.

In addition to Fosmanagepix, with this acquisition, Pfizer has secured ownership of Amplyx's early-stage pipeline that includes potential antiviral (MAU868) and antifungal (APX2039) therapies.

Globally, infectious diseases are responsible for more than 8.4 million deaths annually[iii], accounting for two of the World Health Organization’s top ten causes of death worldwide[iv]. Infections are caused by different types of pathogens, including bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites, and can be acquired in the community or in a hospital or healthcare setting.

The acquisition of Amplyx follows an initial equity investment by Pfizer in December 2019 as part of Amplyx’s Series C financing. At that time, Pfizer joined a world class group of biotechnology investors that included 3×5 Partners, BioMed Ventures, Adage Capital Management, Arix Bioscience, Lundbeckfonden Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, Pappas Capital, RiverVest Venture Partners and Sofinnova Investments.

Financial terms of this acquisition were not disclosed.

DLA Piper served as Pfizer Inc.’s legal advisor for the transaction, while Cooley LLP served as Amplyx’s legal advisor and Evercore as its financial advisor.