Wyeth to buy Scot spin-out Haptogen

US health care major Wyeth has signed a definitive deal to acquire the award-winning Scottish biotechnology company Haptogen, which was founded in 2002 as a spin-out from the University of Aberdeen. Financial details of the transaction were not revealed.

Based in Aberdeen, the firm is focused on the discovery of biopharmaceutical therapies and is expected to "significantly increase Wyeth's already robust biotechnology drug discovery capabilities," says the US drugmaker.

"Haptogen brings to Wyeth a suite of next-generation biotechnology discovery technologies that complement Wyeth's ongoing biotherapeutic discovery efforts," says Frank Walsh, executive vice president of discovery at Wyeth Research. "In addition to the exciting technology and first-rate research team that we are bringing into our organization, we consider the opportunity to conduct biopharmaceutical drug discovery in Scotland particularly important because of the rich pool of scientific and technological talent," he adds.