GlaxoSmithKline and LifeMine Join Forces for Fungi Drug Development

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has teamed up with Cambridge, Mass.-based LifeMine Therapeutics to develop small-molecule drugs derived from fungi.

The collaboration aims to identify up to three new drug candidates that could potentially address several disease areas.

Under the agreement, GSK will pay LifeMine $70 million upfront for access to the company’s drug discovery platform and LifeMine is also eligible for undisclosed milestone payments.

LifeMine CEO and co-founder Gregory Verdine said the company has a fungal genome repository of “an unprecedented scale,” adding that the collaboration is the first of its kind in which genomic drug discovery will be done using fungi.