June 14 (Reuters) - Britain's GlaxoSmithKline Plc has agreed to pay up to $2 billion to iTeos Therapeutics Inc to develop and sell a potential cancer treatment together, the companies said on Monday.
Boston-based iTeos will receive a $625 million upfront payment and is eligible to get up to $1.45 billion more if the programme meets certain development and commercial milestones.
GlaxoSmithKline is under pressure to shore up its drug pipeline after a report that U.S. activist investor Elliott built up a significant stake in the company. The British drugmaker is also preparing to outline plans to split its consumer products business from its drug operations.
The iTeos deal is to develop EOS-448, a monoclonal antibody using an anti-TIGIT agent which showed promise in early studies.
Anti-TIGIT treatments are new experimental immunotherapies against certain cancer types. These treatments, including Roche's tiragolumab and Merck & Co's vibostolimab, are designed to deactivate a tumour's ability to evade the immune system.
EOS-448 is currently being tested in an early-stage study in patients with advanced solid tumors.
GSK and iTeos plan to start combination studies of EOS-448 with GSK's cancer drug dostarlimab in 2022.