While GSK did not provide a specific reason for returning Wave Life Sciences’ WVE-006, the decision comes after the asset in September 2025 came below analyst expectations in a Phase Ib/IIa AATD study.
GSK is letting go of Wave Life Sciences’ RNA editing oligonucleotide WVE-006, which the companies were jointly developing for alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency.
The pharma has not said why it returned the asset to Wave, but the move comes months after a disappointing Phase Ib/IIa readout last September.
“The news comes as a bit of a surprise, but we think it makes sense as GSK may be more interested in large indications, such as COPD,” Truist Securities analysts wrote in an investor note Monday morning. “It appears GSK may have decided that AATD may be a more niche program for them.”
The September data drop showed 11.9uM of alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) protein in patients treated with repeat injections of a 200-mg dose of WVE-006. While Wave at the time called this outcome “therapeutically relevant,” analysts were not as enthused. Truist analysts said at the time that they were expecting AAT levels to hit 12uM and above, meaning the readout was “exceedingly close” but still “came in below buyside expectations.”
Nevertheless, Truist remained optimistic, noting that the higher dose of 400 mg “could drive total AAT well into the 13uM+ range.” Data for this dose is expected in the first quarter of 2026, while additional findings for a 600-mg single dose and from multidose cohorts are coming later this year, according to a Monday news release.
That GSK pulled out of the WVE-006 partnership prior to these additional readouts is important, the Truist team said Monday, meaning “there should not be any read-through to forthcoming AATD data.”
Despite turning its back on WVE-006, GSK appears to still want Wave as a collaborator. Tony Wood, the pharma’s chief scientific officer, said in a statement on Monday that “our research collaboration with Wave continues with exciting opportunities ahead.”
The companies first got together in December 2022, when the pharma fronted $170 million—and put up to $3.3 billion on the line in milestones—for an exclusive global license to WVE-006. Also part of this agreement, however, is access to the biotech’s PRISM platform, which can produce oligonucleotides for RNA silencing and editing, among other potentially therapeutic functions. All told, GSK planned to use PRISM to advance up to eight preclinical programs.
Last month, the pharma selected a fourth program to go ahead with, according to Monday’s release. Validation work is ongoing across several therapy areas. If these programs move forward, Wave could still win up to $2.8 billion in initiation, development, launch and commercialization milestones, plus tiered royalties, according to the biotech’s release.
Even without these contingent payments, the biotech expects that its cash runway will provide funding into the third quarter of 2028. As of Sept. 30, 2025, the company had $196.2 million in cash and equivalents.
