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Agreements

Date: 2018-07-25

Type of information: Collaboration agreement

Compound:

Company: GSK (UK) 23andme (USA - CA)

Therapeutic area:

Type agreement: collaboration - research - development

Action mechanism:

Disease:

Details:

  • • On July 25, 2018, GSK and 23andMe unveiled an exclusive four-year collaboration that will focus on research and development of innovative new medicines and potential cures, using human genetics as the basis for discovery. The collaboration will combine 23andMe’s large-scale genetic resources and advanced data science skills, with the scientific and medical knowledge and commercialisation expertise of GSK.
  • The goal of the collaboration is to gather insights and discover novel drug targets driving disease progression and develop therapies for serious unmet medical needs based on those discoveries. Together, GSK and 23andMe will focus on translating genetic and phenotypic data into R&D activities that will:
  • - Improve target selection to allow safer, more effective ‘precision’ medicines to be discovered. Genetic data can significantly improve our understanding of diseases, their pathways and mechanisms, supporting the design and development of more targeted medicines. Use of genetic data in selecting drug targets can increase both the probability of success in a particular indication and avoid unwanted safety risks.
  • -Support identification of patient subgroups that are more likely to respond to targeted treatments. Scale is critical for the detection of genetic effects in smaller subsets of diseases and patients. With over 80% of 23andMe’s customer base consenting to participate in research, their aggregate and de-identified data could help enable the discovery of a significant number of novel associations from a diverse range of people, which would not otherwise be possible.
  • -Allow more effective identification and recruitment of patients for clinical studies. The ability to identify and invite patients with a particular disease, and in some case specific genetic subgroups, to participate in studies that are relevant to them could significantly shorten recruitment and reduce clinical development timelines, allowing medicines to be delivered to patients more efficiently.
  • Under the terms of the deal, GSK and 23andMe have entered into a four-year collaboration with the option to extend for a fifth year under which GSK will become 23andMe’s exclusive collaborator for drug target discovery programmes. During this time, the companies will use 23andMe's rich database and proprietary statistical analytics to fuel drug target discovery, with the goal of jointly discovering novel targets that can progress into development. A joint GSK-23andMe drug discovery team will use their combined resources to identify new targets and prioritise based on strength of the biological hypothesis, possibility to find a medicine, and clinical opportunity.
  • To allow work to commence immediately, the deal enables both companies to bring existing early stage programmes within the collaboration. 23andMe currently has a portfolio of early stage therapeutic research programmes across a wide range of disease indications, which will be assessed for inclusion. GSK will contribute its LRRK2 inhibitor, which is currently in preclinical development as a potential treatment for Parkinson’s disease. This programme is expected to significantly progress by leveraging 23andMe’s large base of consented customers who are aware of their LRRK2 variant status as a result of 23andMe’s FDA-authorised genetic health reports. Together, GSK and 23andMe are expected to more effectively target and rapidly recruit patients with defined LRRK2 mutations in order to reach clinical proof of concept.
  • 23andMe customers are in control of their data. Participating in 23andMe’s research is always voluntary and requires customers to affirmatively consent to participate. For those who do consent, their information will be de-identified, so no individual will be identifiable to GSK.
  • The continued protection of customers’ data and privacy is the highest priority for both GSK and 23andMe. Both companies have stringent security protections in place when it comes to collecting, storing and transferring information about research participants. 23andMe employs software, hardware and physical security measures to protect the computers where data is stored and information will only be transferred using encryption to offer maximum security.
  • To ensure broader, ongoing engagement within the scientific community, GSK and 23andMe intend to publish results of research conducted within this collaboration, to allow these learnings to be used to guide future research. 23andMe will also continue to provide data and analyses to academics and researchers in areas outside of target discovery.

Financial terms:

  • All activities within the collaboration will initially be co-funded (50%/50%), with either company having certain rights to reduce its funding share for any collaboration programme. It is expected that this collaboration will jointly progress a number of targets per year, with either company able to independently progress additional targets identified within the collaboration. GSK will also have the right to work with 23andMe to analyse 23andMe’s database for validation of GSK’s existing therapeutic portfolio as well as leverage 23andMe’s capabilities for clinical trial recruitment. Both GSK and 23andMe will share in the proceeds from new treatments and medicines arising from the collaboration. Additionally, GSK has made a $300M equity investment in 23andMe.

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