Relation has announced two strategic collaborations with GSK, focusing on the discovery and validation of therapeutics that target fibrotic diseases and osteoarthritis.
Relation will obtain a $45m upfront payment from GSK, including a $15m equity investment.
The company also qualifies for $63m of success-based payments, along with potential preclinical, development, commercial and sales milestones that could average $200m per target across both deals. Tiered royalties on net sales of products are also part of the agreement.
Relation will spearhead observational studies to create two distinct functional disease datasets. The company's Lab-in-the-Loop platform’s integration of human genetics, single-cell multi-omics from human tissue, machine learning and functional assays aims to identify new disease targets with a reduced risk of clinical failure.
GSK respiratory/immunology research and development global head Kaivan Khavandi stated: “Working with Relation enables us to gain deep and precise insights into human causal biology and apply these to therapeutic discovery through a data-driven approach, supported by Relation’s proprietary platform.
“The resulting targets will be supported by robust translational packages, which will in turn provide clarity on deployment in early clinical evaluation, ultimately supporting our broader portfolio ambition to develop new medicines for fibrotic diseases and osteoarthritis – where there remains significant unmet medical need.”
The multi-programme partnership will also see Relation applying its platform to a range of fibrotic conditions as well as osteoarthritis.
GSK will hold global development and commercialisation rights for any targets that emerge from these efforts.
Relation CEO David Roblin stated: “These diseases have few treatments that address their root causes. By combining Relation’s patient-centric discovery platform with GSK’s global scale and expertise, we have the potential to accelerate the development of transformative medicines for patients who have long awaited new therapies.”
Relation's work spans metabolic and immune diseases, and it has secured $80m in funding from investors, including NVIDIA NVentures, DCVC, Magnetic, Hitachi Ventures and Deerfield.
