Pharma BD Deal Intelligence
Gilead Sciences entered a discovery collaboration and exclusive license agreement with Vir Biotechnology covering three novel dual-masked T-cell engagers directed at selected solid-tumour antigens. Vir applies its dAIsY discovery and protein-engineering platform together with its PRO-XTEN universal masking technology, which is designed to keep the T-cell engager inactive in circulation and unmask it in the tumour microenvironment to widen the therapeutic index. Gilead receives an exclusive license to develop and commercialise the resulting candidates. Consideration is up to $135M in upfront and near-term preclinical payments (including a $25M equity investment priced at a 30% premium), up to $1.74B in development, regulatory and commercial milestones, and tiered high single-digit to low double-digit royalties. This is the second Vir collaboration built on the PRO-XTEN masking platform.