Flagship adds GSK and Merck KGaA deals as pharma interest widens

Flagship Pioneering’s ecosystem scored two big-name boosts on Thursday, as GSK (LSE: GSK) and Germany’s Merck KGaA (MRK: DE) unveiled new partnerships that broaden the appeal of the Cambridge group’s bioplatform model. The moves extend a steady run of tie-ups between major drugmakers and Flagship-founded companies.

GSK selected ProFound Therapeutics and Quotient Therapeutics as its first collaborators under a 2024 framework pact. The UK pharma will work with both to explore novel targets for respiratory and liver diseases, supported by $150 million in initial funding and potential milestones of up to $720 million for each acquired program.

ProFound will use its ProFoundry platform to assess previously unrecognized proteins linked to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, examining their suitability as future therapies. Quotient will deploy its Somatic Genomics technology to pinpoint disease-causal targets across COPD, IPF and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis.