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Post by gerald on Feb 6, 2019 14:47:12 GMT -5
A bit of a concern. A number of companies cancelling drug development programs in COPD drugs. There is also indicated that some companies are selling off their Respiratory development arms and focusing on cancer drugs.
So we are see consolidation in who is looking at respiratory medicines. On the bad side it will reduce the number of options that become available. On the good side it should focus the attention, the staff and the research dollars on the more promising areas.
We have yet to see what affect this might have on the Research funding that is going into Universities from these companies
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Amid R&D rejigs, GlaxoSmithKline axes 6 pipeline assets by Ben Adams | Feb 6, 2019 9:18am
GlaxoSmithKline is cutting a host of unwanted investigational drugs as it joins other Big Pharmas in the fourth-quarter clear-out.
The assets, under the very brief line 'terminated', are predominately from a respiratory pipeline and one rare disease:
· GSK1325756 (aka danirixin) in COPD;
· GSK2269557 (aka nemiralisib), also in COPD;
· A combo of GSK2398852 and GSK2315698 (an anti-SAP) in AL/ATTR-CM;
· GSK2245035 (a TLR7 agonist) in asthma;
· GSK2798745 (TRPV4 antagonist) in ARDS and cough;
GSK3008348 (aVb6 antagonist) in IPF.
Danirixin, a CXCR2 antagonist, GSK2798745 and GSK2245035 were all marked as trial flops in GSK’s third-quarter update last year, while GSK2398852 and GSK2315698 were in a midstage test for transthyretin cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM) and in patients with immunoglobulin light chain systemic amyloidosis, which is already catered for/in the clinic from Alnylam and Pfizer.
Aside from the obvious culls of failed drugs, the fact that most are from its respiratory pipeline will be of little surprise, given that last quarter, the British Big Pharma said it was mulling an exit from its respiratory business altogether and pull back in other areas to commit more cash to cancer R&D.
This was according to Axel Hoos, GSK’s head of oncology, who told S&P Global Market Intelligence in October that its new research head Hal Barron was keen to funnel resources into the areas with the most growth potential, putting the future of the key respiratory unit in question.
Respiratory has been a cornerstone of GSK’s business for years but the long-term growth prospects of the field, both at the Big Pharma and in general, are debatable. GSK’s respiratory sales fell over the first six months of last year as rising demand for the Ellipta line of products failed to offset fast-falling revenues from Advair.
GSK has been pushing 11 respiratory drugs through the clinic, some in multiple indications, in a bid to set the unit up for future growth. But Hoos, who would benefit from money being redirected to oncology, has raised the question of whether the respiratory R&D dollars could be better elsewhere.
He told S&P: “I don't want to be inappropriate and step on some toes, but we have areas that have a higher probability of growth and areas with a lower probability of growth,” Hoos said. “Our respiratory franchise, for example, has been a driver for GSK R&D for a long time and we've been very successful with it … but it's also pretty flat. There is not much growth to be expected.”
Hoos went on to frame the respiratory franchise “a very successful business” that is hamstrung by R&D challenges. “It's just much harder to innovate in respiratory than it is to innovate in oncology,” Hoos said.
That view is supported by a comparison between the marginal gains associated with many recent respiratory drugs and the life-changing advances seen in the oncology sector. Given that, it’s no shock that GSK has re-prioritized oncology R&D and is today starting to swing the ax on respiratory.
GSK’s oncology division underwent a major change in 2015 when the company swapped assets with Novartis and has been a minor player since then.
Barron has worked to change that since arriving at the company at the start of the year, and has put GSK’s money where his mouth is: Last month it signed off on a $5.1 billion purchase of cancer biotech Tesaro, and just this week, penned a potential $4.2 billion biobucks collaboration with Germany’s Merck KGaA for work on its Bavencio 2.0 drug.
And this was a boon for GSK’s newest partner, which also announced a boost to its R&D staffers as a result of its deal, with EMD Serono, the Rockland-based biologic of Merck KGaA, announcing a $70 million, 145,000-square-foot expansion of its Billerica R&D facility, plus 100 new staffers, as it ramps up its I-O work.
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