Padlock Therapeutics accelerates pipeline development through agreement with GSK

Padlock Therapeutics, a biotechnology company dedicated to creating new medicines for destructive autoimmune diseases, has entered into an agreement to license intellectual property and a collection of assets targeted at protein-arginine deiminases (PADs) from GSK.

Padlock Therapeutics plans to use these assets to expand the breadth and depth of its proprietary chemistry portfolio in an effort to create fundamentally new treatments for autoimmune disease by targeting the PAD enzymes.

Clinical applications under evaluation at Padlock Therapeutics include rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and multiple sclerosis.

Padlock Therapeutics and GSK collaboration will expedite getting PAD-directed medicines to patients

Under the terms of the agreement, Padlock Therapeutics will receive exclusive rights to a package of assets including intellectual property, selected compounds in several chemical series, assays, data and crystal structures developed by GSK scientists. In return, GSK will receive an undisclosed equity grant and board observer rights.

“Since our founding just over a year ago, the Padlock team has achieved numerous research milestones as we build our PAD enzyme chemistry engine,” said Michael Gilman, Ph.D., Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Padlock Therapeutics. “We are thrilled to add GSK’s assets and know-how to our platform. We believe that the compounds, methods, and data obtained from GSK, combined with our own internal expertise and proprietary chemistry, create an industry leading R&D effort focused on the PAD enzymes and will expedite getting PAD-directed medicines to patients with serious autoimmune diseases.”