New spin-out following GSK’s acquisition of Cellzome
A new company is spinning out of Cambridge proteomics company, Cellzome following its £61m ($99m) acquisition by GlaxoSmithKline.
In a press statement GSK said: “Simultaneous with the acquisition, Cellzome shareholders, including GSK, intend to create a spin-off company, which would hold the rights to certain of Cellzome’s assets and activities that GSK does not wish to progress.”
A spokesperson for GSK told Cabume the specifics of that particular part of the deal would be copper-bottomed following completion of the acquisition on May 21 and therefore no further details were being released.
Anglo-German biotech, Cellzome’s UK operations were established following its acquisition of GSK’s Cell Map unit in 2001, the point at which GSK also took a minority shareholding in Cellzome.
GSK had a just under 20 per cent stake in privately-owned Cellzome but announced today that it had agreed to acquire the rest of the company in a cash deal. Cellzome will become part of GSK’s R&D organisation.
Cellzome was founded in 2000 at the European Molecular Biology Lab in Germany, moving its UK operations from Elstree to Chesterford Research Park near Cambridge in 2004. It employs around 100 across its operations.
Cellzome’s proteomics technologies are used in early drug discovery to assess drug interactions with target proteins in a setting which more closely represents that found in a whole biological system. This system approach can allow scientists to better pinpoint potential safety issues earlier in the drug discovery process. GSK said the technology “can reduce attrition of potential new medicines during the development phase.” GSK and Cellzome have two active early stage research collaborations
"We are pleased to announce this transaction, which will enable GSK to progress the technologies that we have been developing for more than a decade," said Tim Edwards, CEO of Cellzome. "This follows nearly four years of successful collaboration with GSK, during which time we demonstrated the value and breadth of the Cellzome platform for drug discovery."
GSK acquired Cambridge domain antibody platform company, Domantis for £230m in 2007.
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