Vir, Gilead team up on solid tumor cancer therapies in up to $1.9 billion deal

Oct 14 — Vir Biotechnology said on Wednesday it had ​signed a collaboration agreement worth up to $1.88 billion with Gilead Sciences to discover ‌and develop new cancer treatments for solid tumors.

Shares of ⁠Vir rose more ​than 10% in premarket ⁠trading following the announcement.

• Under the ‌agreement, Vir will ‌receive $90 million upfront and be eligible to ⁠receive up to $45 ⁠million in near-term preclinical milestones and up to $1.74 billion in future development, regulatory and commercial payments, the company said

• It will also be eligible for tiered royalties on ‌net sales ranging from ​high single digits to low double digits

• The partnership aims to engineer three novel dual-masked T-cell engager candidates to direct the immune system to destroy cancer cells in solid tumors

• Vir will use its ​PRO-XTEN masking technology and proprietary dAIsY AI ‌platform to ‌design ⁠the drug candidates

• The company will be responsible for the early research and design of the experimental drugs, while Gilead will hold ‌the exclusive rights ​to advance them through ‌clinical testing, manufacturing ⁠and ​commercialization

(Reporting by Kamal Choudhury in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya ​Biswas)

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