Five Prime Therapeutics Expands Collaboration With GSK

(RTTNews) - Five Prime Therapeutics, Inc. (FPRX) announced an expansion of its respiratory disease research collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline Plc. (GSK.L, GSK).

The collaboration was established in 2012 to identify first-in-class agents and new mechanisms for the treatment of refractory asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD.

The scope of the collaboration was increased in April 2014 to include two additional respiratory disease discovery programs for a six-month evaluation period. GSK has now committed to continue these two discovery programs for another 18 months.

Five Prime will receive $2 million in research funding for this expansion, $0.5 million of which it has already received.

If GSK licenses a target discovered by Five Prime in the collaboration, Five Prime would also be eligible to receive up to $193.8 million in potential option exercise fees and milestone payments, as well as tiered royalties on global net sales for each product resulting from a selected drug target.