GSK and Ideaya seal synthetic lethality pact

Abstract

GlaxoSmithKline will pay Ideaya Bioscience $100 million to gain access to three cancer drug–discovery programs. The deal, which includes an equity stake in the biotech worth $20 million, centers on finding drugs that exploit the concept of synthetic lethality, wherein a cancer cell can survive without one gene but dies if a second gene is crippled. GSK is buying into three synthetic lethality targets—MAT2A, Pol Theta, and Werner Helicase—for which Ideaya says it has solved crystal structures and made preclinical progress.