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news.GlaxoSmithKline and Santaris Pharma have entered into a worldwide strategic alliance, which could be worth over $700 million, for the development and commercialization of novel medicines against viral diseases.
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Under the terms of the agreement, Santaris Pharma will grant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) options to drug candidates discovered and developed under the collaboration in up to four different viral disease programs. The collaboration provides GSK access to patented RNA antagonist compounds, based on Santaris Pharma’s unique Locked Nucleic Acid technology, for development as potential new therapies for selected viral diseases.
Santaris Pharma will receive an upfront fee for the first antiviral program of $3 million and GSK will make an equity investment of $5 million in Santaris Pharma. If candidate drugs from the first viral target program are successful and reach the market, GSK could make additional milestone payments to Santaris Pharma of up to $140 million for this first program.
Similar upfront payments and milestones are payable by GSK to Santaris Pharma in respect of each of the further three antiviral programs if GSK elects to initiate these additional programs in the collaboration. In addition, if GSK exercises its option to further develop and commercialize SPC3649, it will make a further up front payment of $5 million and additional milestones of up to $122 million if the drug obtains regulatory approvals in Europe and the US.
Overall, under the collaboration Santaris Pharma could be eligible to receive in excess of $700 million in upfront fees and development and regulatory milestones payments. If a product is successfully commercialized, Santaris Pharma will receive high single to double-digit royalties on worldwide sales of alliance products.