Liquidia Technologies today announced the initiation of a broad,
multi-year collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), which has acquired
exclusive rights to research and develop certain vaccine and inhaled
product candidates using the company’s proprietary PRINT®
(Particle Replication In Non-Wetting Templates) technology. Liquidia’s
PRINT technology is a powerful and versatile nanoparticle technology
product development and manufacturing platform that is changing the way
companies engineer healthcare products.
“We are very pleased to have the opportunity to work with GSK, a company
known for its commitment to scientific excellence, medicinal chemistry
expertise and expansive library of proprietary compounds that could
potentially benefit from Liquidia’s PRINT technology,” said Neal Fowler,
Chief Executive Officer at Liquidia. “The strength of this collaboration
is based on the strong and successful heritage of GSK’s vaccine and
inhaled therapy franchises and the transformative particle engineering
and manufacturing capabilities of Liquidia’s PRINT technology, which
when combined, we believe will yield a next generation of life saving
therapeutics.”
According to the agreement, Liquidia will receive an upfront payment,
comprised of cash and equity, R&D funding, as well as potential for
additional licensing fees, development milestones, and royalties.
Upfront payment, R&D funding, licensing, and development and regulatory
milestone payments under this collaboration could total up to several
hundred million dollars upon all contingent payments coming due. Through
this agreement, Liquidia has also retained the ability to independently
develop certain respiratory and vaccine products in addition to using
the PRINT platform to develop products in other therapeutic areas.
“I am looking forward to Liquidia and GSK scientists working together to
explore the potential of Liquidia's technology platform to our discovery
and development portfolio," said John Baldoni, Senior Vice President
Platform Technology & Science, GSK.
Through its novel technology platform and robust intellectual property
positions, Liquidia is poised to be a leader in the development of
nanoparticle technology-based healthcare products and a catalyst for the
growth anticipated across the nanotechnology industry. The PRINT
technology has the unique potential to enable the development of novel
products and manufacturing paradigms across the entire healthcare
landscape, particularly within the broad therapeutic portfolios of
pharmaceutical companies like GSK.
ABOUT LIQUIDIA TECHNOLOGIES
Liquidia Technologies is a privately held biotechnology company located
in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Liquidia was founded in 2004
on the discoveries of Professor Joseph DeSimone and colleagues at the
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and continues to maintain a
powerful collaboration with UNC that enhances the company's ability to
develop new PRINT® particle based applications. By leveraging
precise fabrication techniques of the semiconductor industry, Liquidia
has the ability to rapidly design and manufacture precisely engineered
particles of virtually any size, shape, or composition using the PRINT
platform, the company’s proprietary particle engineering and
manufacturing technology. In addition to the development of its own
products, Liquidia licenses its cGMP capable PRINT technology to support
proprietary programs advanced by collaborators. For more information,
please go to www.liquidia.com.
