GSK has announced that it acquired US-based Elsie Biotechnologies and its oligonucleotide discovery platform for $50m.
The deal comes just under a year after the companies entered into a research collaboration, which GSK said allowed it to “explore and validate” the technology.
GSK will now integrate Elsie’s oligonucleotide discovery, synthesis and delivery technologies to enhance its platform research and development capabilities.
The company said it will combine data generated from the platform with its own artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities to support the development of predictive models for future oligonucleotide design.
Oligonucleotides are short strands of DNA or RNA that have the ability to modulate gene expression, making them an attractive modality to address therapeutic targets that are not amenable to traditional small molecules or biologics.
GSK’s chief scientific officer, Tony Wood, said: “We have already made great strides in oligonucleotide drug development… and are thrilled to work alongside the talented team at Elsie to accelerate a next-generation oligonucleotide platform.
“By bringing together Elsie’s expertise and our internal capabilities, we can design and develop oligonucleotides for difficult-to-treat diseases of scale with larger patient populations.”
By applying proprietary encoding technology to oligonucleotide therapeutic candidates, Elsie’s discovery platform can evaluate all possible sequences or chemical modification to increase activity, reduce toxicity and improve delivery.
Kevin Green, Elsie’s chief operating officer, said: “We are thrilled to be a part of GSK and work alongside the talented research and development team dedicated to oligonucleotide drug development.
“We believe our platform will make significant contributions to the field and we believe GSK is the best partner to help advance this effort.”
The acquisition is not GSK’s first of the year. In January, it announced that it would be buying Aiolos Bio in an agreement worth $1.4bn to boost its respiratory and inflammatory disease pipeline.
The deal, which closed in February, granted the company access to Aiolos’ AIO-001, a long-acting anti-thymic stromal lymphopoietin monoclonal antibody in clinical development to treat asthma, with the potential for additional indications including chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps.