Cellzome AG, of Heidelberg, Germany, will soon become GlaxoSmithKline plc's newest platform technology asset, subsequent to the pharma's acquisition of all outstanding shares of Cellzome for £61 million (US$99 million) in cash. GSK currently owns 19.98 percent of Cellzome.

Concurrently with the acquisition, Cellzome and GSK shareholders will create a spin-off company holding rights to certain assets and projects of Cellzome that GSK did not wish to acquire.

Cellzome's Episphere and Kinobeads technologies are designed to discover small-molecule drugs that target protein complexes underlying diseases using native proteins in a physiological setting.

Episphere is a chemical proteomics technology that measures the interaction of compounds with epigenetic targets directly in cells and tissues. It also can distinguish between the same protein or enzyme target in different disease-related protein complexes, and can characterize the epigenetic signature of a cell.

The company has used that technology to focus on epigenetic and signal transduction targets in the areas of inflammation and cancer.

It has two ongoing partnerships with GSK. Most recently, in 2010, it signed its second major deal with GSK, worth €475 million (US$644.3 million) to apply its epigenetics platform technology to the discovery of oral small-molecule drugs for immune and inflammatory disease. (See BioWorld Today, March 10, 2010.)

That deal paid €33 million up front, with the rest payable in development milestones. Under the collaboration, GSK and Cellzome said they would work together to identify hits against four different epigenetic target classes, sharing responsibility until candidates were identified, at which point GSK would take them forward. Cellzome reported achieving milestones in December 2010, February 2011 and September 2011, triggering payments from GSK.

The prior collaboration agreement, valued at up to $1.5 billion, was signed in September 2008 for the discovery and development of kinase inhibitors for immune and inflammatory disease. Under that agreement, Cellzome was responsible for most of the development work, and GSK had rights to opt in. (See BioWorld International, Sept. 10, 2008.)

Under the 2010 deal, GSK had exclusive access to Episphere for immune and inflammatory diseases for the development of its in-house candidates.

Now, in acquiring the whole of Cellzome, GSK will gain that company's proteomic mass spectrometry and screening capabilities, which it will use to reduce attrition of drug candidates during the development phase.

The acquisition also will allow GSK to make use of Cellzome's technology across its entire portfolio, rather than the range of immune and inflammatory diseases specified in prior deals.

GSK said Cellzome is the third platform technology it has acquired since 2007, and that those acquisitions contribute to its growing expertise in technology for drug discovery and development.