Singapore– Pfizer has selected the final two targets in a two-year-old, up-to-$911 million collaboration with Wave Life Sciences to develop new treatments for metabolic hepatic diseases, including nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).

Pfizer has nominated the fourth and fifth targets of the collaboration, designed to apply Wave’s stereochemistry platform across antisense and single-stranded RNA interference (RNAi) modalities, along with the aminosugar N-acetylgalactosamine (GalNAc) and Pfizer’s hepatic targeting technology for delivery to the liver.

Under the terms of their agreement, Pfizer could select up to five targets to advance from discovery. Once the candidates have been developed, Pfizer has the option to secure exclusive licences to advance them into the clinic and commercialization.

These advancements are expected to extend RNAi-mediated silencing to tissues beyond the liver.