The UK major has been building its cell therapy portfolio for about three years internally, oncology R&D chief Susan Galbraith tells Scrip, and the purchase of Neogene and its TCR-Ts targeting neoantigens in solid cancers is a logical step.

GSK’s new R&D leader, Tony Wood, has promised a more hard-nosed attitude to picking winners – including a ‘pragmatic’ approach to the hyper-competitive field of oncology.

GSK is abandoning one of its new drug prospects after it failed in hard-to-treat rheumatoid arthritis patients at Phase III, raising the stakes for more key readouts due shortly.

Strategics pursuing high growth M&A plays are often ready to pay a premium price for a target. But with medtech valuations at historic highs, they cannot afford to do that every time. One solution is to take a strategic stake and build early, according to an AdvaMed panel hosted by EY’s John Babitt.