GSK to expand biopharma portfolio with acquisition of Domantis

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has entered into an agreement to acquire UK-based Domantis for £230m in cash.

Domantis, a leader in developing the next generation of antibody therapies, will become part of GSK's Biopharmaceuticals Centre of Excellence for Drug Discovery (CEDD) while continuing to operate from laboratories in Cambridge, UK.

'Domantis has pioneered the extension of antibody therapies to potentially far wider applications than has been possible with conventional monoclonal antibodies,' said Mike Owen, senior vice president, biopharmaceuticals CEDD, GSK. 'Its world-leading technology will complement the work we are already taking forward in the CEDD to put GSK at the forefront of biotechnology.'

Therapeutic applications of monoclonal antibodies, while growing rapidly, have been constrained by their large molecular size and have to be administered by injection or infusion. Domantis has pioneered the next generation of antibody therapy, which is based on the smallest functional binding units of human antibodies.

These units, termed domain antibodies (dAbs), may be administered in inhaled, topical and, potentially, oral formulations as well as by injection and infusion. The Domantis technology also enables dAbs to serve as building blocks for therapeutics simultaneously directed at more than one disease target.

Current research programmes at Domantis address diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and multiple myeloma.