GSK Acquires Wave’s Liver Disease RNA Drug Candidate for $12 Million

GSK has acquired a liver disease-targeted RNA drug candidate from Wave Life Sciences for an upfront payment of $12 million (about 16.1 billion won).

According to Fierce Biotech on the 30th (local time), GSK agreed that day to take ownership of a hepatic program resulting from its long-term collaboration with Wave.

The acquisition covers a small interfering RNA (siRNA) candidate targeting liver disease. In addition to the upfront payment, Wave will receive up to $375 million (about 502.5 billion won) in milestone payments and a portion of royalties if the candidate reaches the market.

The companies signed an option agreement in 2022 under which GSK could pursue up to eight programs using Wave’s RNA platform, paying $170 million for the agreement. They had selected and advanced four programs by early this year, while Wave had been preparing the remaining three for GSK to select.

Oligonucleotides are short strands of DNA or RNA that reduce, restore or regulate RNA through various mechanisms. Wave has described its platform as the only one to offer three RNA-targeting approaches: editing, splicing and silencing.

GSK already has a liver disease siRNA candidate, gatuoziran, in clinical development. The candidate is in a phase 2 trial in a subset of patients with fatty liver disease.

Paul Bolno, Wave’s CEO, said, “GSK’s advancement of this development candidate recognizes Wave’s differentiated technology, including siRNAs designed with best-in-class ‘SpiNA.’”

Bolno added, “Our collaboration with GSK continues to leverage the versatility of our ‘PRISM’ platform, combined with human genetic insights,” and said that “three additional programs are rapidly advancing toward candidate selection.”

However, not all of the companies’ collaborations have led to progress. In February, GSK returned to Wave the rights to an RNA-editing candidate for the treatment of alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency.