Gilead and Tango Announce Strategic Collaboration to Develop Next-Generation Targeted Immuno-Oncology Therapies

Gilead Sciences and Tango Therapeutics announced a global strategic collaboration to discover, develop and commercialize a pipeline of innovative targeted immuno-oncology treatments for patients with cancer.

Under the multi-year collaboration, Tango will perform target discovery and validation and Gilead will have options to worldwide rights on up to five targets emerging from Tango’s proprietary functional genomics-based discovery platform. For two programs directed to these targets, Tango will retain the option to co-develop and co-detail in the U.S. The collaboration does not include Tango’s lead programs, for which Tango will retain all rights.

“Tango has built a unique discovery platform that we hope will help create the next generation of cancer therapies,” said John McHutchison, AO, MD, Gilead’s Chief Scientific Officer and Head of R&D. “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.”

“Gilead is the ideal partner to help us bring potentially transformative treatments to patients with cancer,” said Barbara Weber, MD, Tango’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “This partnership has significant strategic value for us. With Gilead as our partner, we can maximize the applications of our platform in immuno-oncology, while continuing to independently advance our lead programs into the clinic and beyond.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Tango will receive an upfront payment of $50 million. Tango will also be eligible to receive approximately $1.7 billion in total additional payments across all programs in the form of pre-clinical fees and development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments; and up to low double-digit tiered royalties on net sales. For those programs that Tango opts in to co-develop and co-detail, the parties will split profits and losses 50/50 for the U.S., development costs will be shared in a manner that is commensurate with product rights, and Tango will be eligible to receive milestone payments and royalties on ex-U.S. sales.