Pfizer, Zacharon enter collaboration

SAN DIEGO — Pfizer is partnering with San Diego biotech company Zacharon Pharmaceuticals to develop treatments for rare genetic disorders Zacharon said Thursday.

Under the collaboration, which could garner Zacharon up to $210 million, the companies will discover and develop pharmaceutical drugs for treating lysosomal storage disorders, a class of illnesses that includes Fabry disease, Gaucher disease, Pompe disease and Tay-Sachs disease.

Discovery of the drugs will involve use of Zacharon’s drug platform, and Zacharon will receive upfront payments, research and development funding and potential milestone payments and royalties.

“We are very pleased to be working with Pfizer, which has broad compound development expertise, including in the area of small molecules, which should be quite useful to developing drugs for these orphan diseases,” Zacharon president and CEO Robin Jackman said. “The collaboration provides validation for the potential that lies in Zacharon’s broadly applicable technology platform.”