Padlock Therapeutics enters into agreement with GSK to target autoimmune diseases

Padlock Therapeutics announced it has entered into an agreement with GSK to license a collection of assets and intellectual property from GSK intended to develop treatments for autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus and multiple sclerosis.

The agreement gives Padlock Therapeutic exclusive rights to certain assets, including several compounds and chemical series that target protein-arginine deiminases (PADs). The agreement also includes access to several assays, crystal structures and other data, for which GSK will receive board observer rights and an undisclosed amount of equity, according to a company press release. No option to license or acquire Padlock Therapeutics or its assets is included in the agreement, and Padlock Therapeutics is not required to pay any future royalties or milestone payments.

“Since our founding just over a year ago, the Padlock team has achieved numerous research milestones as we build our PAD enzyme chemistry engine,” Michael Gilman, PhD, founder and CEO at Padlock Therapeutics, said in the press release. “We believe that the compounds, methods and data obtained from GSK, combined with our own internal expertise and proprietary chemistry, create an industry-leading [research and development] effort focused on the PAD enzymes and will expedite getting PAD-directed medicines to patients with serious autoimmune diseases.”According to the release, PADs are a group of enzymes believed to modify arginine side chains post-translationally on proteins related to production of the amino acid citrulline, and researchers hypothesize that inhibition of PADs could disrupt the progression of autoimmune diseases.

Reference : www.padlocktherapeutics.com.