Reuters via handout
Emma Walmsley of GlaxoSmithKline poses in this undated photograph released in London.
- $4 just agreed to acquire the cancer drugmaker $4 for $5.1 billion in a bid to bulk up its cancer pipeline.
- Tesaro makes a drug called Zejula, which is used to treat ovarian cancer.
- GSK has been working to refresh its research-and-development strategy - in July it made a $300 million investment in the $4
$4 is getting deeper into cancer drug development.
On Monday, the UK-based pharma giant said it had agreed to acquire Tesaro, a cancer drugmaker with a treatment for ovarian cancer, for $5.1 billion.
$4 was up 60% on the news before markets opened Monday while $4 was down 6%.
GSK has been working to refresh its research-and-development strategy. In 2017, GSK brought on Hal Barron, a former Genentech and Calico executive, as its chief scientific officer and president of R&D.
As part of that, the company made a $4. GSK also $4 that it planned to focus its research efforts on developing new treatments that act on the body's immune system.
Read more: $4
"Our strong belief is that PARP inhibitors are important medicines that have been under appreciated in terms of the impact they can have on cancer patients," Barron said said in a press release. "We are optimistic that Zejula will demonstrate benefit in patients with ovarian cancer beyond those who are BRCA-positive as front-line treatment."
Tesaro makes a cancer drug called Zejula, which is used to treat ovarian cancer.
Zejula is a pill that's taken once a day, and it's part of a group of cancer drugs called PARP inhibitors. Essentially, they block a particular enzyme that's used by our cells to $4. In certain kinds of cancer that repair system is broken, allowing cancer cells to thrive, so $4.
Zejula isn't the only PARP inhibitor out there: Pfizer $4 in its deal for Medivation, Clovis Oncology makes Rubraca, and AstraZeneca has Lynparza