Cellzome Partners GSK For Inflammatory Disease Drug Discovery

Epigenetic mechanisms play a major role during an excessive inflammatory response by controlling immune cell differentiation and inflammatory gene expression.

Under the agreement, GSK will be able to exclusively access Cellzome’s proprietary Episphere technology platform to identify selective small-molecule drug candidates against targets from four different epigenetic target classes.

The companies will share operational responsibility for the programs until identification of drug candidates, at which stage GSK will assume responsibility for any further preclinical and clinical development and commercialisation, Cellzome said.

Cellzome said that it will receive an upfront payment of EUR33m as technology access fees and the purchase of equity from GSK.

GSK will also provide Cellzome with tiered royalties and milestone payments, which under this collaboration could reach over EUR475m if all programmes under the alliance are successfully developed and commercialised.

Tim Edwards, CEO of Cellzome, said: “We are delighted to form another major alliance with GSK, using our leading technology and people to find transformative medicines in this exciting field of biology. Combining forces with GSK will accelerate the development of new anti-inflammatory drugs for the benefit of patients.”