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.

Initial public offering momentum decelerated as stock prices declined last year, but even with lower valuations making M&A more attractive, the IPO market this year is expected to be active.