GSK’s Respiratory Pipeline Adds an Early-Stage Drug Offering a Novel Approach to COPD
MEDCITY NEWS—GSK’s respiratory drug lineup spans a newly approved product for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease as well as therapeutic candidates in various stages of clinical development for treating this prevalent lung disorder. The pharmaceutical giant is now adding one more to its pipeline, paying $85 million to secure rights to an early-stage drug that brings a novel approach to COPD.
The drug comes from San Diego-based Empirico, a startup that discovers and develops small-interfering RNA (siRNA) therapies. Drugs in this class of medicines leverage RNA interference to reduce a gene’s expression of a disease-driving protein. Empirico’s drugs come from proprietary technologies, one for genetically validated target discovery and the other for discovery and development of siRNA medicines. The target for Empirico’s COPD drug candidate, EMP-012, remains undisclosed.