San Diego-based Halozyme Therapeutics Inc. added another feather in its partnership cap with Pfizer Inc. inking a worldwide collaboration and license agreement with the company to develop and commercialize products that combine their recombinant human hyaluronidase enzyme (rHuPH20) with biologics directed to up to six unnamed targets.

Halozyme is already partnered with four other biopharmaceutical companies including Roche Holdings AG, of Basel, Switzerland, Baxter Healthcare Corp. of Deerfield, Ill., ViroPharma Inc., of Exton, Pa., and Intrexon Corp., of Germantown, Md.

"The partnership with Pfizer really builds on our current partnerships with other large pharmaceutical companies such as Roche," Gregory Frost, president and CEO of Halozyme told BioWorld Today. "This is another multi-target, royalty-bearing collaboration that certainly continues to validate our technology."

Halozyme will receive an initial payment of $8 million, which includes the up-front fee for exclusive licenses to two specified therapeutic targets in primary care and specialty care indications and the right for Pfizer to elect up to four additional targets upon payment of additional fees.

If all the development, regulatory and sales-based milestones bear fruit then the company is eligible to receive additional payments totaling up to $507 million. Halozyme will also be entitled to royalty payments based on net sales of any licensed products.

Taking on a new partner will not require the company to add resources as they will be able to leverage their existing teams to work with Pfizer, Fost noted.

Halozyme's rHuPH20 (recombinant hyaluronidase human injection) acts by removing the limitations on the volume of biologics that can be delivered subcutaneously.

The news of the Pfizer deal received a positive reception with the company's share price (NASDAQ:HALO) closing Friday at $7.01, up a healthy 27 percent on the day.

While investors reacted positively to the announcement, Jeffries & Co. analyst Eun K. Yang, writing in a research note, was less so. While agreeing that the deal "can be viewed as some level of validation of the safety of the company's Enhanze rHuPH20 technology, particularly in light of FDA safety concerns over HyQ this year, we continue to believe the long-term safety of chronic use of rHuPH20 still needs to be demonstrated," Yang noted.