GlaxoSmithKline to acquire Cellzome for £61 million
pharmafile | May 15, 2012 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | Cellzome, Domantis, GSK, R&D
GlaxoSmithKline will expand its platform technology capability with the acquisition of a chemical proteomics company.
GSK will acquire those shares it does not currently own in Cellzome for £61 million ($99 million) in cash.
GSK currently owns a 19.98% equity interest in Cellzome, and will now assume full control of the company.
Cellzome, a privately owned company with laboratories in Cambridge, UK, and Heidelberg, Germany, will become part of GSK’s R&D organisation.
Shareholders from GSK and Cellzome said they intend to create a spin-off company, which would hold the rights some of Cellzome’s assets that GSK does not wish to progress.
Cellzome’s proteomics technologies can be used throughout drug discovery from screening to selectivity profiling of compounds in different cells, and also in patient samples.
Acquisition of Cellzome will give GSK a state-of-the-art, proteomic mass spectrometry and screening capability, enabling greater knowledge of drug targets and their interactions with compounds in the early phases of drug discovery.
Through the use of this technology, GSK believes it can reduce attrition of potential new medicines during the development phase.
“The acquisition of Cellzome adds significantly to our scientific capabilities and capacity to characterise drug targets and provides the opportunity to further enhance GSK’s ability to bring medicines to patients in a more effective manner,” said John Baldoni, senior VP, platform and technology science, at GSK.
The technologies that Cellzome has developed, differ from other traditional methods used in early drug discovery by assessing drug interactions with target proteins in a setting which more closely represents that found in a whole biological system.
This allows scientists the opportunity to observe how candidate drugs affect both intended and non-desired targets in a close-to-physiological environment, and may pinpoint potential safety issues earlier in the process.
This is the third platform technology acquisition since 2007 and highlights the company’s growing expertise in the scientific platforms upon which new medicines are discovered, developed and readied for manufacture.
In 2007, GSK acquired two platform technology companies: Domantis, a leader in developing the next generation of antibody therapies, and Praecis, a Massachusetts-based company that created therapeutic programmes and an innovative chemical-synthesis and screening technology.
GSK and Cellzome have two active early-stage research collaborations using these discovery capabilities within the immune-inflammation therapy area.
The acquisition is not subject to any third party approvals and is anticipated to complete on 21 May.
Ben Adams
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