$150 Million Accelerates Scientific Concepts Starting in Respiratory and Immunology Medicines and Vaccines

GSK plc and Flagship Pioneering today announced they have entered a collaboration to discover and develop a portfolio of future transformational medicines and vaccines, starting in respiratory and immunology.

This alliance combines GSK’s disease area expertise and development capability with Flagship’s ecosystem of bioplatform companies, including its novel modalities and technologies, to make significant advances in healthcare.

GSK and Flagship will initially fund up to $150 million upfront to support an exploration phase to identify the most promising concepts for further research and development with Flagship’s bioplatform companies.

From these explorations, the collaboration aims to identify a portfolio of up to 10 novel medicines and vaccines which will each be subject to an exclusive option by GSK for further clinical development.

Under the terms of the agreement, Flagship and its bioplatform companies will be eligible to receive up to $720 million in upfront, development and commercial milestones from GSK, as well as preclinical funding and tiered royalties, for each acquired program.

Tony Wood, Chief Scientific Officer, GSK, said: “Together with Flagship, we will use science and technology to deliver best-in-class innovation at pace. We look forward to partnering with the talented team at Flagship, and their ecosystem of bioplatform companies, to further accelerate our pipeline and discover practice-changing medicines and vaccines for patients.”

Since its launch in 2000, Flagship has originated and fostered more than 100 scientific ventures, resulting in more than $75 billion in aggregate value. To date, Flagship has deployed over $3.8 billion in capital toward the founding and growth of its pioneering companies alongside more than $27 billion of follow-on investments from other institutions.