GSK says more deals to come as oncology takes another blow

After coughing up $2bn for Bellus and paying $90m to license Scynexis’s antifungal, more deals are on the way from GSK, with chief executive Emma Walmsley telling journalists this morning to “expect more targeted business development” this year. Any moves are likely to be made in infectious diseases – including vaccines and HIV – and immunology/respiratory, where the group is increasingly focusing. GSK has all but admitted missing the boat in oncology, and revealed a further blow to those efforts in today's financial results. The group lost a case against Astrazeneca over Zejula that could see GSK pay out low single-digit royalties on sales of the cancer drug in the coming years, Evaluate Vantage understands. The spat centres on patent licence agreements that Zejula’s original developer, Tesaro, struck with Astra in 2012, and fighting its case dented GSK’s operating profits in the first quarter. A phase 3 trial testing Zejula in early-stage breast cancer was also terminated this month; coming after recent label restrictions for the Parp inhibitor class Zejula is increasingly looking like an expensive asset to support. True, it is not one of GSK's big growth drivers, but positive readouts from its development programme are needed.