Theravance, Inc. announced that GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has exercised its option to license Theravance's inhaled bifunctional, muscarinic antagonist/beta2 agonist (MABA) programme under the terms of their 2004 strategic alliance agreement. This programme is the third respiratory programme licensed by GSK from Theravance, a release said.
GSK had previously licensed Theravance's long-acting beta2 agonist (LABA) program pursuant to the companies' 2002 Beyond Advair collaboration and Theravance's long-acting muscarinic antagonist (LAMA) program pursuant to the strategic alliance. Also, GSK recently informed Theravance that GSK would not exercise its option to license Theravance's short-acting, sedative-hypnotic (SASH) program. As a result, Theravance is free to pursue development of the SASH program alone or with another partner.
In consideration for the license to the MABA program, Theravance could receive up to $252 million in upfront and milestone payments, if the program has both single-agent and combination products and certain milestones are achieved, in addition to royalties on sales of any MABA products commercialised by GSK. Effective immediately, GSK will fund all future development, manufacturing and commercialisation activities for product candidates in this program in accordance with the terms of the strategic alliance between Theravance and GSK. The lead compound in the program is currently in the preclinical phase.
Using the principles of multivalent drug design, Theravance discovered a unique series of long-acting inhaled bronchodilators that are bifunctional; one molecule functions as both a muscarinic receptor antagonist and a beta2 receptor agonist. These compounds are under investigation for their potential to treat patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and possibly asthma.
Dr Pat Humphrey, executive vice president of Research at Theravance, said, "We combined bifunctional activity and high lung selectivity to identify a potential medicine with greater efficacy and equal or better tolerability than single-mechanism bronchodilators. We designated TD-5959 our lead MABA compound in December 2004 and have been engaged in preclinical studies since then. We also pursued this program because we believe this type of bifunctional molecule could serve as a basis for improved 'triple therapy' through co-formulation with another inhaled respiratory compound into a single product that could potentially deliver three complementary therapeutic effects for patients with respiratory disease."
Theravance is a biopharmaceutical company with a pipeline of internally discovered product candidates. Of the six programs in development, two are in late stage -- telavancin and the Beyond Advair collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline. Theravance is focused on the discovery, development and commercialisation of small molecule medicines across a number of therapeutic areas including respiratory disease, bacterial infections, overactive bladder and gastrointestinal motility disorders. By leveraging its proprietary insight of multivalency to drug discovery focused on validated targets, Theravance is pursuing a next generation drug discovery strategy designed to discover superior medicines in large markets.