US pharma giant Pfizer is set to acquire a US biotechnology company created by a group of scientists that worked on the discovery and development of its cardiovascular drug Lipitor.

Pfizer will pay $1300m ( ca £720m) for Esperion Therapeutics, which develops cardiovascular treatments that work by increasing levels of high density lipoprotein (HDL; also known as 'good' cholesterol).

'By acquiring Esperion, we can bring our research capabilities to bear on an emerging new area which has potentially significant beneficial impact on patients,' says Hank McKinnell, Pfizer's chairman and CEO. 'Epidemiological data and drug intervention trials both support a strong correlation between higher HDL levels and improvements in morbidity and mortality', he notes.

Esperion currently has four therapeutic compounds in its development pipeline, including the biopharmaceutical ETC-216. Pfizer claims that, in Phase II trials, the drug reduced significantly arterial plaque volume in patients with acute coronary syndrome. All of Esperion's products work by raising HDL levels and thereby stimulating the body's Reverse Lipid Transport (RLT) pathway, which is responsible for removing excess cholesterol and other lipids from arterial walls and other tissues.

Esperion was established in 1998 by members of the team that developed Pfizer's Lipitor (atorvastatin), which reduces levels of low-density lipoprotein, also known as 'bad' cholesterol.

JE