By John Carroll Here’s an interesting new twist on all the drug development partnerships now being formed between Big Pharma and academia. Take a university known for top drug research, add two Big Pharmas and get everybody to contribute to a new research center devoted to a single disease category. That’s just what GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca …
By John Carroll GlaxoSmithKline CEO Andrew Witty has taken to The Economist to advocate for an R&D revolution inside the corridors of Big Pharma. His op-ed piece recites a now familiar litany of woes in the pharma world: The patent cliff is now at the front steps, old “industrialized” research models proved unproductive and regulators are …
By Maureen Martino Pharma and biotech companies have long recognized academia as a rich source of innovative early research. Companies cherry-pick the most promising projects and license them from the universities where they originated, ending academic involvement. But GlaxoSmithKline is adopting a new approach, says the Financial Times. The pharma plans to work closely with medical researchers over the …
By Maureen Martino GlaxoSmithKline is paying $20 million up front and more than $630 million in milestone payments for a partnership deal with Cambridge, MA based Epizyme. The biotech, which was founded in 2007, is developing drugs that target gene-regulating enzymes responsible for triggering diseases. Epizyme will help GSK discover small molecule drugs for enzymes …
By John Carroll GlaxoSmithKline is dumping its program for SRT501, a special formulation of resveratrol which the pharma company scooped up in the $720 million buyout of Sirtris in 2008. GSK suspended a Phase IIa study for advanced multiple myeloma last May after several patients developed kidney failure. In a statement to FierceBiotech this morning, the pharma …
By John Carroll GlaxoSmithKline’s ($GSK) chief strategy officer expects to see more big M&A deals roil the industry, but he doesn’t expect his own company to be in the middle of any major buyouts. “There will undoubtedly be more M&A,” David Redfern allowed at the Reuters Health Summit. “There will probably be more mega-deals, largely caused by …
By John Carroll A group of 14 researchers at GlaxoSmithKline recently left the pharma giant with an unusual severance package. They decamped with the patents on their work related to pain relief and used the IP foundation to start building a new biotech company, with GSK as a minority partner. “Big pharma is looking at …
By John Carroll Investigators at GlaxoSmithKline are excited about the prospect of a new antibiotic that uses a different approach to kill drug-resistant bacteria now rampaging through hospitals. Imaging technology has captured proof that the antibiotic latches on to the enzyme topoisomerase, which bacteria need to replicate. A generation of quinolones has effectively targeted that …
By Maureen Martino GlaxoSmithKline is paying UK-based Vectura group $31.8 million dollars to license Vectura’s dry powder drug formulation patents in relation to two late stage development compounds in GSK’s respiratory drug pipeline. The drugmaker gets will receive up to £20 million ($31.8 million) in up-front and milestone payments, and Vectura could also earn up …
By Liz Jones Hollis GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) has obtained an exclusive licence to develop and commercialize an antibiotic derived from Anacor’s boron chemistry platform. As a result, Anacor will receive $15 million and is eligible for further milestone payments and royalties on any future product sales. GSK is assuming responsibility for further development of the compound and …
