Pfizer, the world’s largest drug company, said Tuesday that it had licensed the worldwide rights to a treatment for Gaucher disease, a rare genetic disorder, from Protalix Biotherapeutics, an Israeli biotechnology company. “This is the first step in the pursuit of a formal strategy around orphan drugs and rare diseases,” David Simmons, president of Pfizer’s established products business unit, said in an interview.

Pfizer joins GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis in the market for rare diseases. This past October, Prosensa, a Dutch company, to joined up with GlaxoSmithKline to develop drugs for Duchenne muscular dystrophy and in June, Novartis won approval from the FDA to sell its drug Ilaris as a treatment for cryopyrin-associated periodic syndrome.

Source: The New York Times