GSK to develop inflammatory disease treatments with Chroma Therapeutics

LONDON British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline will collaborate with fellow British pharmaceutical company Chroma Therapeutics to develop treatments for such inflammatory diseases as rheumatoid arthritis.

GSK announced Tuesday that it would work with Chroma to use Chroma’s proprietary esterase-sensitive motif technology, which uses amino acid esters to make drugs target cells that cause inflammatory diseases.

Under the terms of the collaboration with GSK’s Center of Excellence for External Drug Discovery, Chroma will seek to discover new pharmaceutical drugs in four discovery and development programs, receiving a “significant” up-front cash payment and an equity financing investment by GSK, as well as potential milestones, royalties and option fees, including possibly more than $1 billion in milestones.

“This agreement marks GSK’s continued efforts to access the best science and technology platforms worldwide,” GSK VP and head of the European CEEDD Shelagh Wilson stated.