British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) announced on Wednesday that it would acquire Canadian biotech company 35Pharma for $950 million in cash. This marks the second major deal under the leadership of new CEO Luke Miels, who aims to accelerate the company’s drug development pipeline.
Miels took over as CEO from Emma Walmsley last month. Currently, GSK faces pressure as patents for its core HIV medications are set to expire. To address the potential revenue decline, Miels has pursued a series of “strengthening acquisitions” to expand the company’s product pipeline. In January of this year, GSK agreed to acquire RAPT Therapeutics for $2.2 billion.
This acquisition brings 35Pharma’s experimental pulmonary arterial hypertension drug HS235 into GSK’s portfolio, bolstering the company’s future pipeline in respiratory diseases. 35Pharma focuses on developing novel protein-based therapies.
GSK Chief Scientific Officer Tony Wood said, “Pulmonary arterial hypertension affects millions of patients worldwide, but there remains an unmet medical need. We are excited to bring HS235 into our development pipeline. It is an innovative drug with the potential to be best-in-class, offering differentiated features that could reduce bleeding risks and provide potential metabolic benefits relevant to pulmonary hypertension patients.”
Pulmonary arterial hypertension is a life-threatening disease characterized by abnormally high blood pressure in the lungs, with over 80 million patients globally. Current treatment options include the injection drug Winrevair, launched by Merck.
The global pulmonary hypertension treatment market is expected to reach $18 billion by 2032, with therapies based on “Activin signaling pathway inhibitors” projected to capture approximately 50% of the market share.
So far this year, GSK’s stock price has risen nearly 21%. After a turbulent 2025, the company’s stock has rebounded significantly, outperforming several European peers.
Miels previously stated that GSK will continue to focus on the “downstream” complications of obesity, such as liver disease and heart disease, as the market for weight loss treatments becomes increasingly crowded.
HS235 is currently in the early stages of development and is being designed to treat obese patients with certain heart conditions, as well as those who have previously received pulmonary arterial hypertension treatment. It is a candidate drug with the potential to become “best-in-class.”
In experiments with obese mice suffering from “heart failure with preserved ejection fraction” (HFpEF), HS235 selectively reduced fat mass and improved heart function. If clinical trials are successful, the injectable drug may be administered once every four weeks, with the possibility of extending the dosing interval.
Additionally, on Tuesday, GSK reached a deal worth up to $1 billion for global development rights to Frontier Biotechnologies’ treatments for kidney diseases.