COLLEGEVILLE, Pa.—Wyeth Pharmaceuticals announced it has acquired Scottish biopharmaceutical specialist Haptogen for an undisclosed sum. The operations—a spin-out of the University of Aberdeen and located on campus—are expected to augment Wyeth's biotechnology drug discovery capabilities.

 

"In addition to the exciting technology and first-rate research team that we are bringing into our organization, we consider the opportunity to conduct biopharmaceutical drug discovery in Scotland particularly important because of the rich pool of scientific and technological talent," says Dr. Frank Walsh, EVP of Discovery at Wyeth Research.

 

In particular, Haptogen brings several antibody engineering technologies to Wyeth that will allow it to target diseases typically intractable to immunotherapy. For example, in the area of infectious diseases, Haptogen has developed antibody-based therapeutics that target bacterial signaling molecules as opposed to the bacteria themselves; the goal being to reduce the likelihood of resistance development.

 

The Haptogen acquisition effectively expands Wyeth's existing partnership with Scotland's Translational Medicine Research Collaboration, which also includes other Scottish universities, regional NHS boards, and Scottish Enterprise.