April 1, 2010 (FinancialWire) — Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISIS) said it has formed a strategic alliance with British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) to apply the Isis antisense drug discovery platform to seek out and develop new therapeutics against targets for rare and serious disease, including infectious diseases and some conditions causing blindness.

Under the terms of the agreement, which covers up to six programs, Isis will receive an upfront $35 million payment from GSK and is eligible to receive on average up to $20 million in milestones per program up to Phase 2 proof-of-concept.

GSK will have the option to license compounds at PoC, and will be responsible for all further development and commercialization.

Isis will be eligible to receive license fees and milestone payments, totaling nearly $1.5 billion, in the event all six programs are successfully developed for one or more indications and commercialized through to pre-agreed sales targets.

In addition, Isis will receive up to double-digit royalties on sales from any product that is successfully commercialized.

California-based Isis works to exploit its expertise in RNA to discover and develop novel drugs for its product pipeline and for its partners. The company said it has 22 drugs in development. Isis' drug development programs are focused on treating cardiovascular, metabolic, and severe neurodegenerative diseases and cancer.

Isis and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals are joint owners of Regulus Therapeutics Inc., a company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of microRNA therapeutics.

U.K.-based GlaxoSmithKline is a research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare firm.

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