GSK acquires bronchial asthma specialist Aiolos Bio in $1.4bn deal

  • London-listed GSK has seen its share worth rise 13% within the final yr  

GSK has acquired Aiolos Bio in a deal price as much as $1.4billion (£1.1billion), the drug big stated on Thursday. 

London-listed GSK stated the takeover, which is able to see $1billion paid upfront adopted by an extra $400million in performance-linked funds, would unlock entry to Aiolos’ long-acting anti-thymic stromal lymphopoietin remedy. 

Tony Wood, chief scientific officer at GSK, stated: ‘Given the restricted remedy choices for bronchial asthma sufferers with low T2 irritation, we stay up for utilizing our deep respiratory experience to doubtlessly supply a long-acting biologic to a broader portion of the 315 million sufferers residing with bronchial asthma.’

Opportunities: Tony Wood is the chief scientific officer at GSK

GSK shares have been down 0.59 per cent or 9.8p to 1,658.20p on Thursday, having risen over 13 per cent within the final yr. 

The acquisition of Aiolos consists of AIO-001, a long-acting anti-thymic stromal lymphopoietin monoclonal antibody able to enter section II medical improvement for the remedy of grownup sufferers with bronchial asthma.

It additionally has the potential for extra indications, like power rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps, in keeping with the duo. 

Aiolos chief govt, Khurem Farooq, stated: ‘We imagine that this transaction speaks to the excessive potential of our long-acting anti-TSLP monoclonal antibody.

‘By uniting with GSK, we’re assured that we will quickly advance this remedy within the hopes of considerably lowering the remedy burden for sufferers.’

Deal: It is hoped GSK’s acquisition of Aiolos Bio will assist grownup sufferers with bronchial asthma

Last month, GSK stated it raked in gross sales of £30.3billion within the final yr, due to the launch of a brand new vaccine and booming demand for most cancers medication.

The FTSE 100 group’s revenues jumped 5 per cent in 2023 as vaccine gross sales surged by 25 per cent, pushed by a £3.4billion contribution from Shingrix, a vaccine for shingles.

Arexvy, a respiratory syncytial virus vaccine launched final yr, generated over £1.2billion in revenues.

GSK expects its adjusted revenue per share to extend by 6 to 9 per cent in 2024, on gross sales development of 5 to 7 per cent, which is above forecasts.

Turnover from most cancers medication elevated by over 20 per cent to £731million, pushed by the uptake of Jemperli and Zejula, which goal sure varieties of endometrial most cancers.

Earlier this month, GSK’s remedy for hepatitis B was positioned on a fast-track schedule by regulators within the US.

In a lift for the FTSE 100 pharma big and boss Emma Walmsley, Bepirovirsen is more likely to attain the market prior to anticipated. 

The Food and Drug Administration moved the remedy onto the expedited observe following a request from GSK that the drug needs to be accelerated by means of the overview course of to ‘address an unmet medical need’.

Affecting round 300million worldwide, Chronic Hepatitis B is a viral liver an infection which may typically be symptomless. But if left untreated it will possibly trigger liver injury and improve the danger of most cancers.