Glax­o­SmithK­line places a risky bet on Ar­row­head­'s RNA drug in the fail­ure-strewn NASH field

As ac­tivist in­vestors champ at the bit for change at drug gi­ant Glax­o­SmithK­line, the phar­ma gi­ant has turned over many rocks to find an R&D suc­cess to present to its de­trac­tors. In NASH, a field strewn with fail­ures, GSK hopes a new li­cense deal can churn out a much-need­ed win­ner.

GSK will pay $120 mil­lion in up­front cash and $910 mil­lion in down­stream mile­stones to de­vel­op and sell ARO-HSD, Ar­row­head Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals’ RNA in­ter­fer­ence drug tar­get­ing fat­ty liv­er dis­ease non­al­co­holic steato­hep­ati­tis (NASH), the com­pa­nies said Mon­day.

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