Gilead ties up with Tentarix for cancer, inflammatory disease therapies

[August 16, 2023]  (Reuters) -Gilead Sciences said on Tuesday it had entered into an agreement with privately held Tentarix Biotherapeutics to develop therapies for cancer and inflammatory diseases.

Tentarix will receive upfront payments and an equity investment totaling $66 million from Gilead, which has the option to buy up to three of the drug developer's units for $80 million each, the companies said.

The deal gives Gilead access to Tentarix's proprietary drug development platform for antibody-based therapies that specifically target immune cells related to the disease without activating other immune cells that may lead to adverse events.

The logo of Gilead Sciences Inc pharmaceutical company is seen in Oceanside, California, U.S., April 29, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

Gilead earlier this month flagged a more than 25% jump in research and development costs owing to multi-year plans it undertook to diversify its pipeline to expand beyond HIV drugs, its strongest revenue driver.

(Reporting by Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Shounak Dasgupta)

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