Gilead signs immuno-oncology deal with Tango

California-based Gilead Sciences has signed a collaboration agreement with Tango Therapeutics to discover and develop a pipeline of immuno-oncology treatments for cancer patients.

Under the agreement, Tango, a company focused on the discovery and development of novel cancer therapies, will perform target discovery and validation.

Announced on Wednesday, October 31, the deal will offer Gilead options to worldwide rights on up to five targets emerging from Tango’s genomics-based discovery platform.

For two of the programmes directed to these targets, Tango will retain the option to co-develop in the US.

Tango will receive an upfront payment of $50 million and will be eligible to receive approximately $1.7 billion in total additional payments.

John McHutchison, Gilead’s chief scientific officer and head of research and development, said: “Our collaboration will combine Tango’s innovative discovery technology alongside Gilead’s drug discovery and development capabilities to build a pipeline of novel immuno-oncology therapies.”

Barbara Weber, president and CEO at Tango, added that Gilead is the ideal partner to help the company bring potentially transformative treatments to patients with cancer.

She added: “This partnership has significant strategic value for us. With Gilead as our partner, we can maximise the applications of our platform in immuno-oncology, while continuing to independently advance our lead programmes into the clinic and beyond.”

In another deal, earlier this year, Gilead-owned Kite Therapeutics entered into a strategic collaboration to produce cancer therapies with immunotherapy development company Gadeta. The aim of the partnership is to develop novel gamma delta T cell receptor therapies in various cancers.

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