GSK to acquire HIV assets from Bristol-Myers Squibb in $1.4 billion deal

UK pharma major GlaxoSmithKline’s (LSE: GSK) global HIV business, Viiv Healthcare, is to buy Bristol-Myers Squibb’s (NYSE: BMY) HIV assets for more than $1.4 billion, it has been announced.

Under the agreement, UK-based ViiV, which is majority-owned by GSK in partnership with Pfizer and Shionogi, will acquire fostemsavir, an attachment inhibitor, which is currently in Phase III development for heavily treatment-experienced patients. Fostemsavir has received breakthrough therapy designation from the US Food and Drug Administration and is expected to be filed for regulatory approval in 2018.

It will also get late stage asset, BMS-955176, which is a maturation inhibitor currently in Phase IIb development for both treatment-naïve and treatment-experienced patients.