Wave Life Sciences to receive $170M upfront in new partnership with GSK to develop a large number of candidates

(December 13, 2022) | By Tyler Patchen.

Wave Life Sciences has picked up another deal with a major pharma company.

The Massachusetts-based biotech on Tuesday announced it has entered a strategic collaboration with GSK to advance oligonucleotide therapeutics. This includes moving along Wave’s RNA editing program that targets alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, dubbed WVE-006, which affects both the lungs and liver with limited treatment options.

The deal will have a four-year research term at the beginning. It will bring together GSK’s experience in human genetics, along with its wider development and commercial abilities, with Wave’s drug discovery and development platform, called PRISM. The deal also has two elements, first a discovery collaboration, allowing GSK to potentially advance up to eight programs and Wave to advance up to three. GSK also receives the exclusive global license for WVE-006.