GSK has made a significant commitment, agreeing to pay up to $1.15 billion to acquire IDRx, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company based in the United States. IDRx specializes in creating precision therapeutics specifically aimed at treating gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST). The agreement entails an upfront payment of $1 billion, along with a potential milestone payment of $150 million, as detailed in a release on Monday.
Furthermore, GSK, an established British pharmaceutical firm, will be responsible for making success-based milestone payments and tiered royalty payments to Merck KGaA, a German company known for its contributions to the biopharmaceutical industry. This strategic acquisition enables GSK to access IDRx’s lead molecule, IDRX-42.
This investigational small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor is currently under development as a first- and second-line therapy aimed at combating gastrointestinal cancers. IDRX-42 has demonstrated promising results, exhibiting activity against all key primary and secondary mutations in the KIT gene, which is crucial since there are currently no approved tyrosine kinase inhibitors that effectively target the full spectrum of clinically relevant primary and secondary mutations. Tony Wood, Chief Scientific Officer at GSK, expressed enthusiasm about the early data concerning IDRX-42, highlighting its unique capability to address all clinically relevant KIT mutations prevalent in GIST.
He emphasized that this represents a major gap in the existing standards of care and remarked, “We look forward to accelerating its development in 2025 to redefine treatment.” Tim Clackson, the Chief Executive Officer of IDRx, echoed this sentiment, stating, “We are looking forward to working with GSK to advance IDRX-42 for patients with GIST given there have been no major advances to the standard of care for almost 20 years.” It is important to note that the completion of this transaction is contingent upon receiving regulatory approvals in the United States and fulfilling other necessary requirements. Despite these positive developments, GSK shares experienced a slight decline of 1% in London on Monday morning..