Glaxo in Deal With Bay Area Drug Firm
GlaxoSmithKline said Thursday that it signed a drug discovery deal with California biotech firm ChemoCentryx Inc., potentially worth as much as $1.5 billion in milestone payments made upon achievement of certain goals and research funding to the privately owned company.
Europe’s biggest drug maker said Mountain View-based ChemoCentryx would also receive an upfront payment of $63.5 million, consisting of cash and an equity investment in the company.
The agreement is the third signed by London-based Glaxo’s Centre of Excellence for External Drug Discovery, set up last year to promote the development of drugs from outside the company.
It is a far larger deal than the previous ones with Galapagos NV and Pharmacopeia Drug Discovery Inc. and marks a determination by the center to strike alliances that bring significant assets into Glaxo’s pipeline.
“This collaboration clearly demonstrates GSK’s commitment to gain access to leading-edge, best-anywhere science,” Centre for Excellence head Maxine Gowen said.
The collaboration covers a number of projects for the treatment of inflammatory disorders, including ChemoCentryx’s drug Traficet-EN, which is in late-stage development for inflammatory bowel disease.
Traficet-EN is in clinical studies for the treatment of patients with moderate to severe Crohn’s disease, a form of inflammatory bowel disease.
ChemoCentryx is also working on biological targets implicated in rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, acute macular degeneration and asthma.
The U.S. firm -- which is considering an initial public offering in which Glaxo may participate -- will be responsible for developing drug candidates targeting four chemokine and chemoattractant receptor targets through to the clinical “proof of concept” stage. Glaxo will then have an exclusive option to license each product for commercial development worldwide.
ChemoCentryx will get double-digit royalties on any eventual product sales and will be able to increase royalties in certain instances by co-funding development through final testing.
ChemoCentryx says it is the only company focused exclusively on orally administered drugs that target the chemokine network. By targeting this network, it believes its medicines can block immune responses that cause particular diseases while leaving the rest of the immune system intact.
