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 The British drugmaker recently launched Nucala, its first injectable
biological asthma drug, and is looking for additional treatments to
help more patients who are still struggling with breathing problems.
Up to 20 percent of asthma patients suffer from severe disease that
is not well controlled with traditional inhalers. Nucala helps
around a fifth of them, leaving considerable unmet need and a
potentially large market, since severe asthma accounts for 70 to 80
percent of all asthma costs.
The new medicine, CNTO 7160, which is in Phase I clinical
development at J&J's Janssen unit, targets a protein called
interleukin-33, or IL-33, known to play a role in inflammation.
Because it acts upstream in the biological cascade responsible for
asthma, hitting IL-33 may have advantages over competing approaches
that block only a subset of inflammatory triggers. However, its
broad action could also cause more side effects.
GSK plans to investigate the drug's potential in Phase II studies
starting next year. The medicine is unlikely to reach the market
before around 2023, according to Dave Allen, GSK's head of
respiratory R&D.
EXPERIMENTAL PRODUCT
GSK is not alone in chasing IL-33 as a new drug target. Roche's
Genentech unit in January acquired rights to a similar experimental
product from Amgen, for an undisclosed sum, and AnaptysBio is also
working on a rival treatment.
Allen said all three antibody-based therapies were at a similar
stage of development.
GSK intends to use CNTO 7160 to help patients who don't respond to
Nucala and whose disease appears to be driven by inflammatory cells
called neutrophils.
"This patient population has notably poor outcomes. They have a lot
of exacerbations, very poor lung function, and they really do need
something," Allen told Reuters.
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IL-33 has also been implicated in other diseases, including atopic
dermatitis and allergies to peanuts and other foods, but Allen said
GSK would focus first on asthma.
Respiratory medicine is GSK's most important pharmaceutical
business. It has dominated the sector for more than 40 years but
faces increasing competition from rivals.
By contrast, CNTO 7160 was viewed as a non-core asset at J&J.
Under the terms of the deal, Janssen gets an upfront payment plus
development and first commercial sales milestone payments that could
amount to 175 million pounds. Janssen will also be entitled to
tiered royalties and further payments depending on the drug's sales.
(Editing by David Holmes)
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