GSK has picked a novel protein biotech and a genomics biotech as its first collaborators under a $7 billion biobucks deal with Flagship Pioneering.
Flagship’s Profound Therapeutics and Quotient Therapeutics have signed separate feasibility agreements with the British pharma that center around discovering new targets and therapeutic approaches for respiratory and liver diseases, according to a Nov. 20 release.
These are the first company-specific pacts signed under Flagship and GSK’s partnership inked back in July 2024. The two partners put down a combined $150 million toward respiratory- and immunology-focused research work across several of Flagship’s 40-plus portfolio biotechs. The end goal of the deal is to identify up to 10 new medicines that GSK will have an exclusive option to take forward for further clinical development.
For each program GSK picks up, Flagship and its companies can receive up to $720 million in upfront, development and commercial milestones from GSK, plus preclinical funding and royalties on sales. That equates to a possible $7 billion-plus deal value hanging on the line.
For ProFound’s piece, the biotech will use its protein detection platform to identify and validate new proteins and drug targets within the expanded human proteome.
The collaboration encompasses two different pacts that will include finding novel proteins with significant genetic ties to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).
Meanwhile, Quotient will leverage its somatic genomics platform in hopes of unlocking new treatments by studying genetic diversity in patients.
In Quotient’s case, GSK has penned three separate agreements that revolve around finding disease-causing drug targets for COPD, IPF and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis.
If the Big Pharma decides to move forward with an agreement, the respective biotech will advance its program through key preclinical development. After that, GSK will have the exclusive option to take the candidate into clinical testing.
Notably, Profound and Quotient are two biotechs involved in another Flagship-pharma collaboration. In 2023, Pfizer set the blueprint for the VC-pharma pacts, aiming to build a new pipeline of 10 programs and offering Flagship and its biotechs the chance to make up to $700 million in biobucks for each successful drug.
Pfizer has tapped Quotient to help discover new targets for two programs in cardiovascular and renal diseases, while asking Profound to find proteins and determine whether they can be used for new obesity therapeutics.
Flagship currently has more than 40 companies under its wing, including Generate Biomedicines, Lila Sciences, Tessera Therapeutics and Valo Health.