Rgenta will receive cash advances and pre-exercise milestone payments, and is expected to receive milestone payments, royalties and potential equity investments

Rgenta Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to developing a series of oral small molecule drugs targeting RNA targets for the treatment of cancer and neurological diseases. The company announced today that it has signed a multi-year multi-target strategic research collaboration agreement with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to advance the discovery and development of new small molecule splicing regulators targeting RNA in multiple disease areas such as tumors.

Dr. Christopher Austin, Senior Vice President of Research Technology at GSK, said: "We are very excited about Rgenta's differentiated approach to discovering and developing oral small molecule splicing regulators for high-value targets. We are committed to working with industry-leading companies to further enrich our existing expertise in the field of targeted RNA drugs. At the same time, we also look forward to this highly promising innovative therapy benefiting more patients with difficult-to-treat diseases."

Dr. Hualin Xi, co-founder and CEO of Rgenta, said: "We are very pleased to reach a collaboration with GSK, a world-leading biopharmaceutical company. This collaboration further validates the potential of Rgenta's RNA-targeted small molecule drug discovery platform. Through this collaboration, we are expected to jointly accelerate the development of this type of new drug and bring new treatment options to patients."

Under the collaboration agreement, Rgenta will receive up to $46 million in cash upfront and pre-exercise milestone payments, and may also receive nearly $500 million in option exercise fees, research, development, regulatory and commercialization milestone payments for each target, as well as tiered royalties and potential equity investments. GSK has the option to expand the scope of the collaboration to other targets. During the collaboration, Rgenta will use its proprietary discovery platform to develop novel oral small molecule targeted RNA splicing regulators for GSK-specified targets. After exercising the option, GSK will be responsible for the further development and commercialization of candidate drugs in the collaboration agreement.

Dr. Travis Wager, co-founder, president and chief scientific officer of Rgenta, added: "We are very honored to work with GSK, whose science-driven philosophy and successful experience in using scientific innovation to benefit patients coincide with our mission. This collaboration further validates the value of our discovery platform, which has successfully developed our first clinical-stage candidate, RGT-61159, an oral small molecule that can be applied to specifically regulate the transcription factor MYB."