GSK unveils first of new virtual pipeline drug discovery alliances
pharmafile | April 24, 2006 | News story | Research and Development |Â Â Â
Pharmacopeia, a small New Jersey pharmaceutical company will be the first to enter into a new kind of drug development collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline.
Smaller pharma and biotech companies have been very successful in recent years in discovering new approaches to targeting diseases with novel molecules, suggesting that smaller more 'fleet of foot' operations help researchers make breakthroughs faster.
GSK wants to make the most of this small scale advantage by setting up long-term agreements with such companies, allowing them to maintain their autonomy while giving them the benefit of GSK's in-house drug discovery and development expertise.
The company says the system will 'virtualise' the portion of the GSK pipeline from target to clinical proof of concept, by forming multiple risk-sharing/reward-sharing alliances.
Pharmacopeia has been chosen as the first company to work under this system, which will be co-ordinated by GSK's Centre of Excellence for External Drug Discovery (CEEDD).
Maxine Gowen, head of the Centre of Excellence at GSK, said: "The Pharmacopeia relationship exemplifies a new collaborative model for GSK. Through the CEEDD we will ally GSK's understanding of medical needs with biotech innovation to bring new medicines to patients.
"At the same time as GSK provides its broad experience, Pharmacopeia brings its unique perspective that, consistent with the CEEDD's mission, adds to our internal capabilities."
Pharmacopeia focuses on traditional small molecules and has a number of drugs in phase I development in areas such as rheumatoid arthritis (with Bristol-Myers Squibb), allergies and asthma (with Daiichi) and inflammatory diseases (with Schering-Plough).
Pharmacopeia will receive $15 million in cash payments from GSK and further milestone payments of up to $83 million for every drug development programme which progresses under the alliance.
GSK will also be given the right to buy Pharmacopeia shares at a 25% discount, keeping the door open for the UK-based pharma company to buy a controlling share in its smaller partner.
"The right pharma collaborators – and GSK is clearly one of the best – can contribute exquisitely to our strategy of forward integrating to clinical validation and managing the risks and returns of drug discovery and development," said Les Browne, chief executive of Pharmacopeia.
"This new alliance with GSK's CEEDD, which is unlike anything we have done previously, is structured to leverage the existing capabilities at Pharmacopeia for discovery as well as evolving our development capabilities. Importantly, commensurate with our taking compounds further along in the development pipeline, the economics of the alliance reward us appropriately for success."
The CEEDD is based on the model used by GSK in creating small autonomous teams focusing on in-house drug discovery.
These are called Centres of Excellence of Drug Discovery (CEDDs) and the company says the units have now proven their value, helping to increase the size of its discovery portfolio 38% since 2001.
A number of other indicators point to their success, including a now industry-leading development cycle time (pre-clinical to phase II) of 39 months and a total development time of 7.5 years, which GSK estimates is the third best in the sector.
