How genomics will underpin GSK’s R&D era under Wood

As Tony Wood takes on the CSO role at GSK, he outlines his strategy on The BioCentury Show

As Tony Wood starts his tenure as CSO of GSK, he plans to keep building back the oncology franchise, as well as expand the modality toolbox, carving a strong thread of genomics throughout the strategy.

On The BioCentury Show, Wood outlined his R&D priorities and discussed his view on the importance of adding new modalities, such as oligonucleotides and RNAi therapies, to the portfolio. “What we’re going to witness in the next five to 10 years is the maturing of the final class of nature’s molecules being used as medicines,” said Wood. 

This week,  GSK plc (LSE:GSK; NYSE:GSK) announced a research collaboration with Wave Life Sciences Ltd. (NASDAQ:WVE) to develop next-generation oligonucleotide therapies.

Wood joined GSK in 2017 from Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) as SVP of medicinal science and technology, and was appointed CSO designate on Jan. 19 this year, becoming CSO with full accountability for GSK’s R&D effective Aug. 1 on the departure of Hal Barron.

Part of Wood’s mission is to reconstruct the oncology pipeline, work that began under his predecessor Barron and CEO Emma Walmsley, who decided in 2018 to return to oncology, three years after the pharma exited the space via an asset swap with Novartis AG (SIX:NOVN; NYSE:NVS).

On the show, Wood pointed to the use of PD-1 inhibitor Jemperli dostarlimab in mismatch repair deficiency (dMMR)/microsatellite instability high (MSI-H) cancers as one example of how GSK will pursue molecularly defined cancers. dMMR will remain a central focus, and played into the rectal cancer program which had remarkable though very early results at European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress this year.

Wood also talked about the use of oligonucleotides and other modalities, coupled with genomics, as opening “a whole new arena” for the company. He noted that other -omics will come into play to help identify which genetic variants to pursue. “The question is, if I modulate this gene that I’ve learned from a given variant, does it have a function which is significant enough to expect to have an effect on disease? And that’s where multiprofiling comes in,” said Wood. “If you can do it at a multidimensional layer by measuring transcriptomics, proteomics, etc., you get a signature which is a great reflection of that function in, hopefully, the cell type of interest.”

The BioCentury Show is sponsored by pathfinder partner Sofinnova Investments. For information on how to sponsor The BioCentury Show and the BioCentury This Week podcast, please contact Sarah Shoaff at sarah.shoaff@biocentury.com.