GSK to acquire Cellzome for £61m

GSK is to expand its platform technology capability with acquisition of chemical proteomics company Cellzome.

The UK pharmaceutical firm will acquire the shares it does not currently own in Cellzome for £61m (US$99m) in cash. Cellzome, a privately owned company with laboratories in Cambridge, UK, and Heidelberg, Germany, will become part of GSK’s r&d organisation.

Cellzome’s proteomics technologies can be used throughout drug discovery from screening to selectivity profiling of compounds in different cells and also in patient samples.

GSK says the firm’s technologies differ from other traditional methods used in early drug discovery by assessing drug interactions with target proteins in a setting which more closely represents that found in a whole biological system. This allows researchers to observe how candidate drugs affect both intended and non-desired targets in a close-to-physiological environment and may pinpoint potential safety issues earlier in the process.

‘The acquisition of Cellzome adds significantly to our scientific capabilities and capacity to characterise drug targets and provides the opportunity to further enhance GSK’s ability to bring medicines to patients in a more effective manner,’ said John Baldoni, senior vice president, Platform & Technology Science, at GSK.

This is GSK’s third platform technology acquisition since 2007, when the firm acquired Domantis, a developer of next-generation antibody therapies, and Praecis, a developer of novel therapeutic programmes and an innovative chemical-synthesis and screening technology.

GSK and Cellzome already have two active early stage research collaborations within the immune-inflammation therapy area. With the acquisition, the technologies could be leveraged across GSK’s whole portfolio.

‘We are pleased to announce this transaction, which will enable GSK to progress the technologies that we have been developing for more than a decade,’ said Tim Edwards, chief executive of Cellzome.

‘This follows nearly four years of successful collaboration with GSK, during which time we demonstrated the value and breadth of the Cellzome platform for drug discovery.’

GSK, which currently owns a 19.98% equity interest in Cellzome, will assume full control of the company.

Cellzome’s shareholders, including GSK, will create a spin-off company that will hold the rights to certain Cellzome’s assets and activities that GSK does not wish to progress. The acquisition should be completed on 21 May 2012.