Glaxo pays handsomely to join the Tigit chase

That Glaxosmithkline was prepared to part with $625m up front for Iteos’s phase 1 anti-Tigit MAb EOS-448 shows that the pharma giant considers this a "must own" immuno-oncology mechanism. The terms point to a highly competitive process, which also means that there must be other large developers shopping in this space. The big three I-O players already have assets in their pipelines, but there are plenty of others, like Astrazeneca and Pfizer, that would presumably be interested. That is great for news for those unencumbered projects, and it is no coincidence that Mereo shares opened up 15% today, a surge that soon settled down to a 5% rise. Still, while the Glaxo-Iteos deal sounds rich, it is worth remembering that the small biotech has agreed to pay 40% of the R&D costs associated with an “aggressive” pre-agreed global development plan; in return, Iteos will jointly commercialise EOS-448 in the US and get 50% of the profits from the region. A further $550m is available if certain clinical and regulatory hurdles are crossed, with another $900m attached to sales milestones. The tiny Belgian developer has long been a proponent of Tigit, and this deal certainly justifies its enthusiasm: Iteos shares surged 30% in early trade.

(This story has been updated to include the Junshi Tigit project.)