Recently, Frontier Biotechnologies (Nanjing) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Frontier Biotechnologies" or the "Company") has officially entered into an exclusive license agreement with GlaxoSmithKline (hereinafter referred to as "GSK"), a global biopharmaceutical company. Pursuant to the agreement, GSK will obtain the global exclusive rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize two small interfering RNA (siRNA) pipeline products. One of the drug candidates has entered the Investigational New Drug (IND) application stage, and the other is a preclinical candidate.
This agreement demonstrates the Company’s expertise in the early-stage discovery and development of siRNA drugs, representing an important milestone in advancing the Company’s global development strategy.
Under the agreement, the Company will receive an upfront payment of USD 40 million, and up to an aggregate of USD 963 million in development, regulatory and commercialization milestone payments across the two programs, as well as tiered royalties on the global net sales of both products.
The Company will be responsible for the early-stage development of the two investigational products, which specifically includes advancing the Phase I clinical trial of one product in China and completing the IND-enabling studies for the other product. GSK will be responsible for all subsequent global clinical development, regulatory submissions and commercialization activities of both products.

Dr. Xie Dong, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Frontier Biotechnologies, stated:
“We are greatly encouraged to have reached this collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline, a global biopharmaceutical enterprise. This reflects the industry’s growing recognition of our R&D capabilities. The Company will lay a solid foundation for Frontier Biotechnologies by deepening international cooperation, accelerating the value realization of its pipeline, and pursuing potential commercialization.”
Small nucleic acid drugs represent an important development direction in the global pharmaceutical field in recent years. Small nucleic acid therapies overcome the three major dilemmas of traditional drug discovery by enabling precise gene silencing on targets that cannot be addressed by conventional drugs, delivering durable and highly specific efficacy, and establishing a universal platform applicable to a wide range of diseases. At present, the R&D of small nucleic acid drugs is rapidly expanding from rare diseases to chronic diseases such as cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and metabolic diseases, showing broad market prospects.

Kaivan Khavandi, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Research and Development for Respiratory, Immunology and Inflammation at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), stated:
“This agreement further strengthens our immunology pipeline with the addition of two potential first-in-class oligonucleotide (small nucleic acid) therapies, bringing important opportunities to improve outcomes for patients with a variety of kidney diseases. These assets are highly aligned with our strategy focused on platform technologies and inflammation-driven diseases, and we look forward to working with Frontier Biotechnologies to advance their development.”