GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) is adding another vaccine target to its partnership with Agenus (NASDAQ:AGEN) and putting itself first in line to acquire the vaccines company outright.
GSK is paying Massachusetts-based Agenus $9 million to amend an existing agreement between the companies. The change adds to the agreement a new, undisclosed indication. GSK is currently using Agenus’ QS-21 Stimulon Adjuvant technology in four phase 3 vaccine studies in malaria, melanoma, nonsmall cell lung cancer and shingles.
If GSK can commercialize a vaccine in the added undisclosed indication, Agenus will gain additional royalties on that product. In addition to the added vaccine indication, Britain-based GSK gets the first right to negotiate for the purchase of Agenus or its assets. That right expires in five years. Agenus announced the changes to the GSK pact concurrent with the release of its fourth-quarter and year-end 2011 financial results.
GSK, which has its U.S. headquarters in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, entered into license and supply agreements with Agenus in 2006, which grant the pharma giant the right to use Agenus’ QS-21 Stimulon Adjuvant. An adjuvant is a substance that makes a vaccine more effective by enhancing the body’s immune response to the vaccine’s antigen.
In 2009, the companies amended the agreement and granted GSK additional manufacturing rights for the adjuvant. The deals pay Agenus milestone payments as programs using the adjuvant technology advance. Agenus also stands to gain royalties on commercialized products. Through 2010, GSK had paid Agenus $10.5 million of a possible $15.3 million in up-front and milestone payments from the agreements. The Agenus technology was used to develop GSK’s malaria vaccine candidate, which reported positive phase 3 results last fall. Additional data from the phase 3 vaccine programs is expected to be released in the coming year.
Besides the GSK vaccine programs, Agenus has also licensed the technology to Janssen Pharmaceuticals, which is developing an Alzheimer’s disease immunotherapy. The QS-21 adjuvant is being studied in a total of 15 vaccine clinical trials, three of which are Agenus vaccine programs. The Agenus programs are in phase 2 studies for brain cancers and genital herpes.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
