Not content with getting the first lupus drug to market in the form of the blockbuster Benlysta more than a decade ago, GSK is handing over $300 million in upfront cash for a clinical-stage T-cell engager it believes could target patients who aren’t benefiting from current treatments. The candidate in question is CMG1A46, a dual CD19- and CD20-targeted T cell engager that Chimagen Biosciences is currently evaluating in phase 1 trials for leukemia and lymphoma. However, GSK has spied potential in focusing the asset on systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and lupus nephritis with potential to expand to other B-cell-driven autoimmune diseases and related conditions. Alongside the initial fee, GSK could also pay out up to $550 million in biobucks to China-based Chimagen. As an IgG-like molecule with high affinity for CD19- and CD20-positive B cells but a low affinity for CD3, GSK’s hope is that CMG1A46 could lower the toxicities that are often associated with T-cell engagers. Preclinical studies have already shown “rapid, deep B cell depletion both in the bloodstream and in tissues which could lead to more durable responses in patients,” GSK pointed out. If successful, it means the British Big Pharma would have a fresh lupus offering for patients who suffer from severe forms of the disease that don’t respond to existing treatments. “Through our work in systemic lupus erythematosus and lupus nephritis, we increasingly understand the underlying drivers of B cell-driven diseases,” GSK Chief Scientific Officer Tony Wood, Ph.D., said in an Oct. 29 release. “As a novel therapeutic option directed at deep B cell depletion, CMG1A46 offers exciting potential which we are pleased to take forward to address unmet need in lupus and related autoimmune conditions.”

Full story : GSK Inks $850 million Lupus deal to acquire an experimental drug from Chinese biotech firm Chimagen Biosciences.