a lot of risk in pre-clinical assets, I'd pay for some interim...

a lot of risk in pre-clinical assets, I'd pay for some interim phiii results anyday, but...

Glaxo signs potential $1 bln deuterium drug deal
Tue Jun 2, 2009 3:52am EDT


* Concert may receive more than $1 bln in overall payments

* $35 mln upfront, including $16.7 mln equity investment

* Deal covers deuterium drugs for HIV and kidney disease

(Adds detail, background)

LONDON, June 2 (Reuters) - GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L) has boosted its early-stage drug pipeline by signing a potential $1 billion deal with privately-held U.S. biotech company Concert Pharmaceuticals to access deuterium-containing medicines.

The world's biggest drugmaker gets rights to three Concert research programmes -- a protease inhibitor for HIV due to start Phase I clinical trials this year, a preclinical drug for chronic kidney disease and a third unspecified product.

Concert said on Tuesday it would receive $35 million upfront, including a $16.7 million equity investment from Glaxo.

It is also eligible for milestones and tiered, double-digit percentage royalties based on the success of the experimental drugs. Overall payments to Concert could reach more than $1 billion.

Patrick Vallance, Glaxo's head of drug discovery, said Concert's approach to deuterium modification of medicines had broad potential to enhance certain drug properties.

Deuterium is a heavy isotope of hydrogen and therefore forms a stronger chemical bond to a carbon atom of a molecule. Researchers believe this may substantially improve the metabolic properties of medicines, making them more effective.