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US: Pfizer buying gene therapy company

By  |  August 1, 2016

Pfizer Inc. said on August 1 that it will acquire gene therapy company Bamboo Therapeutics Inc., a sign of a resurgent interest in the technology.

Pfizer will pay $150 million for the shares of Bamboo it doesn’t hold, with potential milestone payments of up to $495 million. In the first quarter of this year, Pfizer purchased 22% of Bamboo for $43 million.

The N.C.-based Bamboo focuses on developing gene therapies for patients with rare disease related to neuromuscular and central nervous system conditions.

Gene therapy involves the injection of genetic material into a person’s cells to treat or prevent a disease. The research stalled after some study participants died or developed cancer after receiving gene therapies in the late 1990s and 2000s.

More recently, however, the technology has been given another look.

Full Content: The Wall Street Journal

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