On Monday, the UK-based pharma giant said it had agreed to acquire Tesaro, a cancer drugmaker with a treatment for ovarian cancer, for $5.1 billion.
Tesaro was up 60% on the news before markets opened Monday while GSK was down 6%.
GSK has been working to refresh its research-and-development strategy. In 2017, GSK brought on Hal Barron, a former Genentech and Calico executive, as its chief scientific officer and president of R&D.
"Our strong belief is that PARP inhibitors are important medicines that have been under appreciated in terms of the impact they can have on cancer patients," Barron said said in a press release. "We are optimistic that Zejula will demonstrate benefit in patients with ovarian cancer beyond those who are BRCA-positive as front-line treatment."
Tesaro makes a cancer drug called Zejula, which is used to treat ovarian cancer.
Zejula is a pill that's taken once a day, and it's part of a group of cancer drugs called PARP inhibitors. Essentially, they block a particular enzyme that's used by our cells to repair DNA . In certain kinds of cancer that repair system is broken, allowing cancer cells to thrive, so blocking it is critical .
Zejula isn't the only PARP inhibitor out there: Pfizer acquired one in its deal for Medivation, Clovis Oncology makes Rubraca, and AstraZeneca has Lynparza
PJT Partners and Bank of America Merrill Lynch advised GSK, while Citi and Centerview advised Tesaro on the deal.