Gilead Sciences enhances its oncology pipeline with acquisition of XinThera

Gilead Sciences, Inc. has announced the acquisition of all outstanding shares of XinThera, a private biotechnology company in San Diego.

Gilead Sciences said the acquisition complements existing clinical development priorities by adding additional channel assets for well-validated targets in oncology and inflammation.

Through the acquisition, Gilead Sciences acquires the rights to a portfolio of small molecule inhibitors targeting PARP1 for oncology and MK2 for inflammatory diseases that could enter clinical trials later this year. Both programs have the potential to address multiple indications, offering extensive development opportunities both separately and in combination with the Gilead portfolio.

“The team at XinThera have developed research assets with the potential to target DNA damage repair pathways in treating cancer and directing the immune response in inflammatory diseases, both of which can improve outcomes for people living with these diseases,” said Flavius ​​Martin, vice president executive, research, at Gilead Sciences.

“Guided by our scientific framework, this acquisition will enable us to expand our early pipeline of multiple assets that will continue to drive our long-lasting late-phase portfolio.”

Gilead Sciences has a similar mission

“Gilead and XinThera share a common mission to discover new therapies to treat cancer and inflammatory diseases, which fuels our determination to unlock the body’s ability to better respond to these diseases,” said Chris LeMasters, CEO of XinThera.

“We are excited to join forces with Gilead and together explore the potential of our precision medicine as an important component of next-generation therapies targeting diseases with high unmet needs.”

First-generation dual PARP1/2 inhibitors have proven highly efficacious in the treatment of patients with homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) tumors with BRCA mutations such as breast, ovarian, prostate and pancreatic cancers, but their use is limited. due to haematological toxicity.

PARP1 selective inhibitors have the potential to reduce the haematological toxicity seen in first-generation dual PARP1/2 inhibitors and allow combinations with a wide range of DNA-damaging agents, including systemic chemotherapy and targeted agents such as Trodelvy (sacituzumab govitecan-hziy).

The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

About XinThera

XinThera is a private biotechnology company whose mission is to develop best-in-class small molecule drugs to treat cancer and immunological diseases. The company was founded in 2021 by Stephen Kaldor, Qing Dong, and Gene Hung, and is headquartered in San Diego in the US

About Gilead Science

Gilead Sciences, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company working to advance drugs to prevent and treat life-threatening diseases, including HIV, viral hepatitis and cancer. Gilead operates in more than 35 countries around the world, with headquarters in Foster City, California.