Pfizer has announced that it would pay around 700 million Euros to acquire the Swiss biotech Therachon to use it to develop a protein drug in order to boost the bone growth in Achondroplasia. Due to Achondroplasia, there is a slow bone growth which results in dwarfism in the body such as short limbs and other bone-related problems.
Bone growth is inhibited in the condition of achondroplasia due to the cell surface protein that is activated by signaling molecules. The protein works well to control the bone growth in its healthy condition. However, in achondroplasia, the mutation occurs, and on activation of protein by signaling molecules, the growth of bones stops completely.
With the help of Therachon’s protein drug’s resemblance with the cell surface protein, the signaling molecules could not stimulate the mutated protein in the cell membrane which improves bone growth. Due to this, it has been introduced to improve growth in achondroplasia. Apart from this, doctors recommend limb lengthening surgery to increase height by some amount. Various online sources such as Height Maximizer also stress on the use of this bone surgery to increase the height of a person.
Pfizer has also taken this decision in order to compete with other companies in the market. Various other pharmaceutical giants such as BioMarin Pharmaceutical and Ascendis Pharma are hustling to grab the top spot in the market. Therachon has already completed the phase I and it is also been developing treatments in phase II for short-bowel syndrome.
