Tafamidis

iStock, oboonstudio Indirect comparisons between BridgeBio’s Attruby and Pfizer’s tafamidis products showed a numerical survival benefit with the biotech’s drug. BridgeBio’s transthyretin amyloidosis drug Attruby elicited notable improvements in survival and hospitalization rates, pointing to its potential “superiority” over competing products from Pfizer, analysts say. In the Phase 3 ATTRibute-CM study , BridgeBio enrolled more than 630 patients with transthyretin amyloidosis cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM), who were randomly assigned to receive either Attruby or placebo. An additional analysis of the trial, conducted by the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital in Ireland, employed anchored matching to indirectly compare Attruby to Pfizer’s tafamidis, marketed as Vyndaqel or Vyndamax. Results of this matched analysis, disclosed Monday , showed that patients on Attruby had a 34% decrease in cardiovascular hospitalization versus tafamidis—an effect that was statistically significant. Attruby also lowered the risk of all-cause mortality (ACM) by 28% versus Pfizer’s product, though this benefit fell short of significance. These findings provide “a glimpse of Attruby’s [potential] superiority in ATTR-CM,” analysts at Jefferies told investors in a note on Monday afternoon, “although cross-trial comparisons are a key caveat.” There are no direct head-to-head studies comparing Attruby to the tafamidis products. Jefferies is expecting more than $3 billion in peak sales for Attruby given the current competitive landscape in ATTR-CM, but the analyst concedes that this estimate is “moot if Attruby proves differentiated” against Pfizer. Aside from the indirect comparison against tafamidis, BridgeBio on Monday also presented biomarker data for Attruby, touting a significant increase in serum transthyretin while simultaneously minimizing variability in levels of the protein, which are two dynamics associated with ACM mortality risk, according to Jefferies. Designed to be taken orally, Attruby is a transthyretin stabilizer that binds to the transthyretin protein and slows its breakdown, a process that otherwise drives the pathologic formation and accumulation of plaques across various organs in patients with ATTR-CM . Attruby was approved in November 2024 , putting it nearly five years behind the tafamidis franchise, which secured regulatory clearance in 2019 . Last year, the tafamidis products hit nearly $1.7 billion in revenue worldwide , a 9% year-on-year increase. Attruby, meanwhile, clocked revenues of $362.4 million . Pfizer has secured a few more years of market exclusivity for its tafamidis line. Last month, the pharma announced that it has reached settlement agreements with three generics manufacturers—Dexcel Pharma, Hikma Pharmaceuticals and Cipla—to keep their copycat products off the U.S. market through June 1, 2031. This patent extension could be worth as much as $6 billion for Pfizer.

Pfizer has discontinued the final clinical study stemming from its 2021 acquisition of Trillium Therapeutics, funneling cash primarily toward a host of other cancer and obesity studies. The company reported in a pipeline update Tuesday that it ended a Phase 2 program of maplirpacept in patients with hematological malignancies. A spokesperson confirmed there were no additional ongoing studies testing drugs originating from Trillium, acquired by Pfizer in 2021 for roughly $2.25 billion. Two other Phase 2 trials were cut in the quarter: one studying disitamab vedotin in patients with solid tumors, and another testing anti-IFN-beta dazukibart as a lupus treatment. Pfizer took a multibillion-dollar write-down on disitamab vedotin in the previous quarter. Four Phase 1 studies were ended as well. On the whole, Pfizer is pouring more money into development efforts, spending nearly $2.5 billion on R&D in the first quarter, a 13% jump compared to the first quarter of 2025. Much of that money is going toward oncology and obesity-related studies, making the most of its Seagen and Metsera acquisitions, respectively. While it hustles to crack into the US obesity market, Pfizer has bought its way into China first. The company announced in February that it had acquired commercial rights there for a GLP-1 from local biotech Sciwind Biosciences; that drug was approved in March and launched at the end of last month, Pfizer disclosed. Overall, revenue was up only 2% for the quarter, dragged down by the company’s Covid-19 products. Sales of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine Comirnaty were down 59% in the quarter, which Pfizer attributed in part to narrower recommendations in the US that were depressing uptake. Still, the $14.5 billion quarterly revenue beat Wall Street expectations by 5%. Migraine medicine Nurtec continues to be a comeback product for Pfizer, with revenue up more than 40% in the quarter. And with a major patent settlement now in the rearview, Pfizer can count on additional revenue from its Vyndaqel package of amyloidosis-targeted products, which eclipsed $1.6 billion in the quarter. The company announced last week that it staved off generic entry of Vyndamax for two years, extending the patent to 2031. In prepared remarks , CEO Albert Bourla disclosed plans for a new adult pneumococcal vaccine that will target 35 serotypes. He said clinical development is set to start later this year.