GSK Expands Cancer Research Pact

GlaxoSmithKline has signed an agreement with the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) to license a substantial portfolio of tumor-specific antigens from LICR.

The licensing agreement followed a long-standing collaboration between the groups on GSK’s investigational MAGE-A3 Antigen Specific Cancer Immunotherapeutic (ASCI) in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC). This novel cancer immunotherapy is based on MAGE-A3, a tumor-specific antigen previously in-licensed by GSK from LICR. Promising interim results from a Phase II trial of GSK’s MAGE-A3 ASCI in patients with NSCLC were recently presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting.

Tumor-specific antigens are proteins expressed only by tumor cells. Once administered in combination with a specifically designed GSK proprietary adjuvant system, they are expected to trigger a specific immune response to eliminate tumor cells. Under the terms of the agreement, GSK has licensed from LICR a significant number of cancer antigens expressed in a large variety of cancers, including NSCLC, melanoma, breast cancer, head and neck cancer, bladder cancer and liver cancer. The financial details of the agreement are not disclosed.

“The signing of this agreement signals a new milestone in the relationship between LICR and GSK,” said Jonathan C.A. Skipper, Ph.D., executive director for Intellectual Property and Licensing at LICR. “We have enjoyed a productive and successful collaboration between our respective scientific teams for some years and we look forward to our continued preclinical and clinical collaborations. However, it is with great confidence that LICR hands the baton for the clinical development of our best tumor-specific antigens to GSK.”

“We are very pleased to announce this agreement with the LICR the very same day the promising data from GSK’s MAGE-A3 ASCI were presented,” said Jean Stephenne, president of GSK Biologicals. “With the licensing of this impressive portfolio of cancer antigens, we endorse our collaboration with the Ludwig Institute and reaffirm our commitment to using our experience in immunology to develop innovative immunotherapies against a wide variety of oncology conditions.”