GSK, a UK-based pharmaceutical company, is increasing investment in nucleic acid medicine. They’ve arranged a $50 million purchase deal with Elsie Biotechnologies, a San Diego private biotech firm.
This move comes a year after they started researching oligonucleotides together. GSK will gain complete access to Elsie’s discovery and delivery technologies by acquiring them, aligning with GSK’s wider plan to delve into oligonucleotide drugs. This purchase occurs four months post GSK choosing to license Elsie’s platform for an undisclosed sum. Oligonucleotides, small DNA or RNA strands,
can be manipulated to engineer drugs that change gene expressions. This drug class is now well-established, and companies like GSK are making it a core element in their development plans, alongside typical proteins and pills. GSK is also backing off cell therapies, while pursuing oligonucleotides. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, a trailblazer in oligonucleotides, provided one of GSK’s leading candidates. They licensed a hepatitis B medicine, bepirovirsen, to GSK in 2019. GSK then began final stage testing last year,
marking it as a high-priority project. GSK also inked a deal with Wave Life Sciences, a Cambridge company, providing them with $120 million in 2022 to kick off a four-year oligonucleotide drug project. A liver disease oligonucleotide candidate is also progressing through GSK. As GSK’s chief scientific officer Tony Wood stated, “We have already made great strides in oligonucleotide medicine, working on chronic hepatitis B and steatotic liver disease. We’re excited to collaborate with Elsie’s talented team to fast-track a next-gen oligonucleotide platform.”