Ramaswamy’s Dermavant bags GSK’s PhIII-ready psoriasis drug in $330M deal — eyeing a major league contest
Vivek Ramaswamy got started in biotech paying a pittance for a failed Alzheimer’s drug at GlaxoSmithKline — which flopped miserably in Phase III. Now one of his biotech companies is going back to GSK for a new drug to put in the late-stage pipeline, but the penny ante game is over.
Dermavant, helmed by Celgene vet Jackie Fouse, has inked a $330 million deal to buy the Phase III-ready tapinarof (GSK2894512), with close to $200 million of that coming in an upfront payment. The drug has scored positive Phase II data, putting it into the lineup of experimental drugs following Dupixent from Sanofi and Regeneron. And that will set the bar for success in psoriasis and atopic dermatitis at a very high level.
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