GSK partners with Bluebird to commercialise gene therapies
GSK and biotech company Bluebird Bio have entered into a licence agreement centring on Bluebird’s lentiviral vector platform.
Lentiviral vectors are used as tools for gene delivery in mammalian cells.
As part of the agreement, GSK will be given a non-exclusive licence to certain patent rights related to the lentiviral vector technology to develop gene therapies for rare genetic diseases.
According to a statement released yesterday, May 2, financial terms of the agreement include an upfront payment to Bluebird, as well as potential milestone payments and royalties on net sales of the covered products.
Philip Gregory, chief scientific officer at Bluebird Bio, said: “Bluebird Bio’s work has been integral to the progress of lentiviral vector-based cell and gene therapy; over the past six years, we have taken the incredible potential of our lentiviral vector platform and successfully applied it to our own clinical gene therapy and oncology programmes.”
He added: “We are pleased that our agreement with GSK now allows us to facilitate the work of others striving to develop transformational therapies for patients with rare genetic diseases.”
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