GSK has doubled down on its belief in the silent interfering RNA (siRNA) modality by inking a licensing agreement worth up to just over $1bn with Chinese company, Frontier Biotechnologies.
Through this deal, GSK will hand over $40m upfront, as well as up to $963m in development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments in exchange for two of Frontier’s early-stage siRNA candidates. This includes a preclinical asset and an Investigational New Drug (IND)-enabled candidate – both of which are being developed to treat kidney diseases driven by inflammation.
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If either drug were to make it to market, Frontier will also be eligible to receive tiered royalties on global sales.
To begin with, Frontier will take responsibility for the progression of both assets, meaning the biotech will progress its IND-enabled asset to a Phase I trial in China, while aiming to secure an IND approval for the second candidate. When the company achieves these milestones, GSK will take command of the global development and potential commercialisation of both drugs.
In a 23 February statement, Kaivan Khavandi, GSK’s senior vice president and global head of R&D for respiratory, immunology and inflammation, noted that the two “potential first-in-class” oligonucleotide therapies acquired from Frontier are well-aligned with the company’s strategic focus, which centres around investment in both platform technologies and inflammation-driven diseases.
At the 2026 J.P. Morgan Healthcare conference, GSK’s CSO, Tony Wood, also stated that early-stage investment in R&D technology – as well as the employment of artificial intelligence (AI) – will help the company offset the upcoming patent expiries in its portfolio.
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By GlobalDataGSK’s deal with Frontier follows on from its $745m pact with California-based biotech, Empirico, which centred around its clinical-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) siRNA, EMP-012. The company is also exploring the potential of its in-licensed hepatitis B candidate, daplusiran/tomligisiran, in the Phase II B-UNITED study (NCT06537414).
Big pharma bets on siRNA technology
GSK’s deal with Frontier is the most recent in a line of siRNA-focused agreements, which are heavily focused on treating metabolic disorders and various cancers, according to a report from GlobalData.
As the modality picks up steam, companies are increasingly turning to China to purchase investigational assets, with 36% of the licensing deals focused on the modality involving assets developed in the country, according to GlobalData’s Pharmaceutical Intelligence Center. GlobalData is the parent company of Pharmaceutical Technology.
Alongside GSK, Novartis has also forged multiple, multi-billion-dollar siRNA-focused deals – one with Chinese biotech Shanghai Argo Pharmaceutical for two metabolic disease candidates and another with US company Arrowhead for its preclinical therapy for Parkinson’s disease.
Madrigal has also hedged its bets on the modality by signing a $4.4bn licensing deal with Chinese biotech, Suzhou Ribo Life Sciences, which saw the metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) specialist gain the global rights to six of Suzhou’s siRNA-based therapies.
