BioSeek characterizes GSK compounds

BURLINGAME, Calif.—BioSeek Inc., an inte­grated human biology systems company, announced recently that it entered a col­laboration agreement with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), under which BioSeek will apply its BioMAP systems for the characterization of compounds from GSK. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

The compounds and targets in which GSK are interested also were not disclosed. BioSeek CEO Peter Staple notes that the ini­tial focus of his company has been to use the technology with regard to inflammatory disease, but adds the platform can be used for any therapeutic area and that GSK is not necessarily focused on inflammation.

"Our overall strategy is to pursue more collaborations like this to generate revenue using our technology but we are also using it to identify leads in internal discovery efforts so that we can also generate revenue through outlicensing in the future," Staple explains. "We are very focused on generating intellec­tual property around new compounds and new uses of existing compounds."

In that vein, he notes that the leads BioSeek currently has in the preclinical stages are all either related to inflammatory disease and cardiovascular disease, and those that are related to cardiovascular applications are primarily those where the inflammatory and cardiovascular issues overlap.

BioSeek's BioMAP systems are a series of human primary cell-based disease models designed to replicate the intricate cell and pathway interactions present in human dis­ease biology. Depending on their mechanism of action, compounds induce specific pat­terns of changes in these systems—BioMAP profiles—that can be compared to a large number of reference profiles in BioSeek's database.

BioMAP profiling reportedly can provide in-depth character­ization of drug function, including defining mechanism of action and secondary activities, and can pro­vide insights into potential clinical applications.

The company has struck other collaboration deals before GSK, Staple says, such as a deal with Inflazyme in June and an expand­ed deal with Boston Scientific in May—as well as several other com­panies over the past few years that have declined public disclosure, in most cases because the discovery work is in such early stages.

Landing such a big pharma player now isn't a surprise, Staple says, as BioSeek has developed relationships and explored early evaluation deals with a number of big players over the past two years. He expects more such deals with big pharma will be in development relatively soon.