Pfizer has entered into an agreement to acquire BioRexis Pharmaceutical Corp., a privately held biopharmaceutical company with several diabetes candidates and a novel technology platform for developing new protein drug candidates. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

“Through this acquisition, we are investing in a company with an exciting new technology and potential new product candidates in diabetes,” said Edmund P. Harrigan, M.D., senior vice president, worldwide licensing and new business development for Pfizer. “This is an example of how we are pursuing compelling science outside our walls in order to deliver new healthcare solutions to customers and patients.”

BioRexis is developing long-acting GLP-1 receptor agonists for the potential treatment of type 2 diabetes and early studies support their potential to advance new treatment options for this disease. Also, BioRexis’ proprietary protein engineering technologies based upon human transferrin, provide novel therapeutic agents with substantially longer duration of action than synthetic peptides. These technologies also have the potential to substantially improve patient tolerability and compliance.

The acquisition is expected to close during the first or second quarter of this year.