Acquisition of Domantis

GlaxoSmithKline PLC
08 December 2006


Issued - Friday 8 December 2006, London, UK


               GlaxoSmithKline To Acquire Domantis for £230 Million

            GSK Will Further Expand Its Biopharmaceuticals Portfolio
               With Acquisition of Pioneering Antibody Technology


GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) today announces that it has entered into an agreement
to acquire Domantis Ltd, a leader in developing the next generation of antibody
therapies, for £230 million (US$454 million) in cash.  Domantis, a
privately owned company, will become part of GSK's Biopharmaceuticals Centre of
Excellence for Drug Discovery (CEDD) while continuing to operate from
laboratories in Cambridge, UK.


The acquisition agreement is subject to clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino
Antitrust Improvements Act and is expected to complete in January.


"Domantis has pioneered the extension of antibody therapies to potentially far
wider applications than has been possible with conventional monoclonal
antibodies," said Mike Owen, Senior Vice President, Biopharmaceuticals CEDD,
GSK. "Its talent and world-leading technology will complement the work we are
already taking forward in the CEDD to put GSK at the forefront of 
biotechnology."


Robert Connelly, Domantis founding Chief Executive Officer, said, "The agreement
with GSK allows us to embed our R&D organization intact within a company
committed to fully exploiting the potential therapeutic applications of our
technology. I am delighted that GSK has made this major investment in our
technology, our people, and our product pipeline."


Next-generation antibody therapy

Monoclonal antibodies, laboratory-engineered versions of the antibodies found in
the natural immune system, can bind with exquisite precision to targets in the
body. Yet their therapeutic applications, while growing rapidly, have been
constrained by their large molecular size. Currently marketed therapeutic
antibodies have to be administered by injection or infusion.


Founded in 2000 by Ian Tomlinson and Sir Gregory Winter, Domantis has pioneered
the next generation of antibody therapy, which is based on the smallest
functional binding units of human antibodies. These units, termed domain
antibodies (dAbs), may be administered in inhaled, topical, and, potentially,
oral formulations as well as by injection and infusion. The Domantis technology
also enables dAbs to serve as building blocks for therapeutics simultaneously
directed at more than one disease target.


Current research programmes at Domantis address diseases including rheumatoid
arthritis, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and multiple myeloma.


"When Sir Gregory and I founded Domantis, our aim was to build a world-class R&D
team capable of producing a wide range of dAb products that would have a major
impact in medicine," said Dr Tomlinson, formerly of the UK Medical Research
Council's Laboratory of Molecular Biology (MRC-LMB) and now Chief Scientific
Officer at Domantis.


"The acquisition of Domantis by GSK highlights the tremendous potential and
value of dAbs and provides the funding and capabilities to advance a large
number of dAb products through clinical testing. Combining the core
protein-engineering capabilities, technology, and intellectual property of
Domantis with the basic science and clinical and commercial strength of GSK
creates an opportunity to advance biopharmaceuticals on a global scale."


Dr Tomlinson will continue to manage the Cambridge laboratories of Domantis
while serving as a GSK executive in the Biopharmaceuticals CEDD reporting to Dr
Owen.


Sir Gregory, who has been a member of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the
Scientific Advisory Board at Domantis, is Deputy Director of both the MRC-LMB
and the MRC Centre of Protein Engineering.


Biopharmaceuticals at GSK

GSK has committed to becoming a leader in biopharmaceuticals by dedicating one
of its Centres of Excellence for Drug Discovery to this endeavour. Large
pharmaceutical companies traditionally specialise in medicines that are small
molecules, administered orally. Biopharmaceuticals, by contrast, are large
molecules typically administered by injection or infusion, though research
continues in other delivery technologies. Examples of biopharmaceuticals are
monoclonal antibodies, therapeutic vaccines, and recombinant therapeutic
proteins.

The Biopharmaceuticals CEDD is one of nine CEDDs in GSK which focus on specific
technologies or therapeutic categories. The CEDDs, consisting of
cross-functional teams of scientists and physicians, manage the progression of
compounds in the 'middle' of the pipeline, bridging the conventional gap between
discovery and development while drawing from the broader resources of the entire
R&D organisation.


S M Bicknell

Company Secretary

8th December 2006


Notes to editors:

•  Scientists in the laboratories of Sir Gregory Winter first published their 
   work with dAbs in Nature in 1989. The MRC-LMB has remained at the forefront 
   of antibody research since monoclonal antibodies were invented there in the 
   1970's.

•  Domantis this year won the UK Innovation in Drug Discovery & Development 
   Award sponsored by London First and UK Trade & Investment.

•  For further information about Domantis, please visit 
   http://www.domantis.com.


GlaxoSmithKline - one of the world's leading research-based pharmaceutical and
healthcare companies - is committed to improving the quality of human life by
enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer.  For company
information including a copy of this announcement and details of the company's
updated product development pipeline, visit GSK at www.gsk.com.


Cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements

Under the safe harbour provisions of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform
Act of 1995, the company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements
or projections made by the company, including those made in this Announcement,
are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ
materially from those projected.  Factors that may affect the Group's operations
are described under 'Risk Factors' in the 'Operating and Financial Review and
Prospects' in the company's Annual Report 2005.

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