GSK signs research and development agreement with Ranbaxy

Ranbaxy Laboratories has announced that it has signed a research and development agreement with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) which extends the terms of a strategic alliance established by the companies in 2003.

Under the terms of the original agreement, Ranbaxy conducted the optimisation chemistry bringing drug candidates to the point of candidate selection.

The new agreement will see GSK grant Ranbaxy further financial opportunities and responsibilities in drug development, with Ranbaxy now advancing leads to the point of clinical proof of concept.

GSK will pay Ranbaxy potentially over $100 million (51 million pounds) in milestone payments in addition to royalties on any product developed and launched through this partnership.

Maxine Gowen, senior vice president of the Centre of Excellence for External Drug Discovery (CEEDD) at GSK, said: “This expanded agreement builds on the success of the existing collaboration and furthers our CEEDD strategy of building a strong pipeline through to clinical proof of concept via external research and development collaborations.”

GSK’s CEEDD is a dedicated team that forms multiple risk and reward sharing alliances to contribute to the pipeline of the company through the work of alliances external to GSK.

In December 2006, GSK announced that it had signed a multi-target collaboration with Epix Pharmaceuticals for the discovery, development and commercialisation of innovative drugs targeting four G-protein coupled receptors.