GlaxoSmithKline is boosting its own efforts to fight AIDS by closing on a deal to buy the HIV drug pipeline of Bristol-Myers Squibb . The transaction is worth as much as $1.46 billion.

“As a result of these transactions, ViiV Healthcare now has one of the most robust HIV pipelines in the industry,” said Dominique Limet, CEO of ViiV Healthcare, which is owned by GSK: “The assets that we have acquired complement our existing portfolio and could lead to new medicines and combinations addressing a broad range of treatment and prevention needs of people living with HIV.”

GSK (NYSE: GSK), which has a major presence in North Carolina, closed on the deal Monday.

“These acquisitions strengthen our leadership and innovation in HIV, one of our core areas of scientific research at GSK,” said David Redfern, Chief Strategy Officer at GSK and chairman of ViiV Healthcare, a GSK company which is focused on AIDS. “The addition of two potential first-in-class late-stage treatments and several promising early clinical development programs strengthens ViiV Healthcare’s pipeline and provides us with further new opportunities for growth.”

Last May, GSK announced it would partner with UNC-Chapel Hill to form a new company to discover a cure for AIDS. GSK is investing $20 million in the venture.

That decision to make the buy shortly after GSK Chair and CEO Andrew Witty decided not to spin off the ViiV business.

What ViiV Healthcare has acquired:

  • Late stage assets, including fostemsavir (BMS-663068), an attachment inhibitor currently in phase III development for heavily treatment experienced patients. Fostemsavir has received a Breakthrough Therapy Designation from the FDA and is expected to be filed for regulatory approval in 2018. The second late stage asset is a maturation inhibitor (BMS-955176), and is currently in phase IIb development for both treatment-naive and treatment experienced patients. A back-up maturation inhibitor candidate (BMS-986173) is also included in the purchase.
  • Assets in preclinical and discovery phases of development including a novel biologic (BMS-986197) with a triple mechanism of action, an additional maturation inhibitor, an allosteric integrase inhibitor and a capsid inhibitor.

The Bristol Myers-Squibb deal includes in actuality two agreements:

  • Acquiring late-stage HIV research and development assets
  • Acquiring a portfolio of preclinical and discovery-stage HIV research assets

GSK is making a $317 million upfront payment for the late-stage compounds and research.

Among them is fostemsavir, which is already in Phase 3 clinical trials and has received “Breakthrough Therapy Designation” from the U.S. FDA. A filing for regulatory approval is expected in 2018, according to GSK.

As The London Telepgraph noted: “Fostemsavir belongs to a class of HIV drugs called entry and fusion inhibitors. These inhibitors block HIV from getting into and infecting certain cells of the immune system, preventing it from multiplying and reducing the amount of it in the body.”

Two other potential drugs are also part of the first deal. Another $518 million could be paid based on development, commercial sales milestones and sales royalties.

Three early-stage compounds are part of the other deal. GSK is paying $33 million up front for those with another $578 million possible based on development and sales.

GSK said researchers involved in the Bristol Myers-Squibb programs will be offered the chance to transfer to ViiV Healthcare.

“These potential therapies have novel modes of action and would offer significant new treatment options to patients with HIV,” GSK said. “In addition to being developed as standalone treatment options, these new assets complement ViiV Healthcare’s existing portfolio and therefore offer multiple opportunities for development as combination therapies.”