Pfizer Announces First Occupant in its Science Incubator

Pfizer today announced its first occupant for the company’s Incubator – a new development where scientific entrepreneurs progress their ideas towards innovative treatments for serious diseases. Vaughn Smider MD, PhD, an assistant professor at The Scripps Research Institute, in La Jolla CA, will work to develop a unique technology to identify antibodies that might lead to new therapies. He will build his new company, Fabrus LLC at the Incubator, located at Pfizer’s Research & Development site in La Jolla. "We’ve had a really warm reception from the biotech community and academic scientists, said Pfizer’s Alex Polinsky, who heads the Incubator. "We are helping to fill the need for support and funding for early scientific work. The Incubator is a channel that brings innovation one step closer to patients. If successfully developed, Fabrus technology could lead to new therapies in many therapeutic areas.” In total, Pfizer will invest $10 million a year to support life science start-ups based in the incubator. Pfizer continues to review research proposals and expects other occupants to move to the facility in the near future. Fabrus plans eventually to employ six - eight scientists, who will have laboratory and office space in part of the new incubator facility. Fabrus will receive Pfizer support for two years. At the end of the term, Pfizer has an option to acquire the company and its technologies, or Fabrus may spin out as an independent enterprise. "The Incubator allows me to focus on science,” said Dr Smider. "We won’t have to devote time to business complexities, like funding, equipment purchase and payroll. We also benefit from our proximity to Pfizer and its considerable scientific resources.” During the two-year incubation period, Fabrus will work to develop novel antibody libraries, and ways to screen them against biological targets. The technology will be tested on targets in some of Pfizer’s 11 disease areas. About The Pfizer Incubator The Pfizer Incubator (TPI) offers scientist-entrepreneurs an opportunity to bring their medical innovations to patients. In TPI, scientist-entrepreneurs contribute innovative ideas and the ability to solve complex scientific and technical challenges, while TPI provides all necessary resources to move ideas forward into practice. More details are at: www.thepfizerincubator.com