Ionis licenses chronic hepatitis B treatments to GSK
Biotech company Ionis Pharmaceuticals is to license its antisense medicines, used to treat people with chronic hepatitis B, to GlaxoSmithKline ( GSK).
In an announcement yesterday, August 27, Ionis said GSK had decided to agree on licensing the programme following positive phase two results.
Chronic hepatitis B is a viral infection of the liver that can lead to significant and potentially fatal health conditions such as liver failure and liver cancer.
As part of the agreement, Ionis is eligible to receive milestone payments of up to $262 million, including a $25 million licence fee, as well as tiered royalties “in the low double digits” on net sales.
According to the press release, GSK is now responsible or all development, regulatory and commercialisation activities and costs.
Brett Monia, chief operating officer at Ionis, said the antisense technology “can potentially deliver a transformative medicine” for sufferers.
He added: "We believe GSK's expertise in infectious diseases makes them the ideal partner to help address this high unmet need."
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