Gilead signs deal with Nurix Therapeutics worth more than $2.3 billion
pharmafile | June 20, 2019 | News story | Business Services, Research and Development | Gilead, Nurix Therapeutics, pharma, protiens
Gilead has signed a deal with San Francisco biotech Nurix Therapeutics – a company focused on developing drugs that control levels of the enzyme ubiquitin E3 ligases which are responsible for the breakdown of proteins in human cells.
Dysregulated and/or mutated proteins play a central role in the development and progression of many human diseases. It is hoped that by controlling protein levels Nurix’s technologies will be able to tackle cancer and other challenging diseases.
Nurix’ pipeline is focused on developing drugs as treatments for hematologic cancers and immune-mediated diseases including immuno-oncology therapeutics for cancer
Under the terms of the deal, Nurix will use its proprietary drug discovery platform to identify novel agents that utilize E3 ligases to induce degradation of specified drug targets. Gilead will then have the option to license these drug candidates.
“There are many molecular targets involved in disease pathways that have traditionally been challenging to manipulate using conventional approaches,” said Dr John McHutchison, Chief Scientific Officer and Head of Research and Development, Gilead Sciences.
“Nurix’s innovative protein degradation discovery technology provides Gilead with a new strategy to interrogate these drug targets, as we continue to build a pipeline of small molecule therapeutics for patients with cancers and other diseases.”
Dr Arthur T. Sands, Nurix’s Chief Executive Officer added: “Gilead is an ideal partner to help us bring potentially transformative treatments to patients. This partnership expands our ability to build our pipeline of novel targeted protein degradation drugs based on our established expertise in the field of protein homeostasis, while we continue to independently advance our lead programs into the clinic.
The deal will see Gilead pay Nurix $45 million upfront and as much as $2.3 billion in additional payments based on the successful completion of certain research, pre-clinical, clinical, regulatory and commercialization milestones. Nurix will also be eligible to receive low double-digit tiered royalties on net sales.
Louis Goss
Related Content
FDA approves IMIDEX’s AI-powered device VisiRad XR
The technological pharmaceutical company IMIDEX has been granted clearance from the US Food and Drug …
Artiva Biotherapeutics announces FDA clearance of IND for AlloNK and Rituximab combo
On 16 August 2023, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officially cleared Artiva Biotherapeutics’ …
Novartis acquires Chinook Therapeutics for $3.5bn
Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis has entered into an agreement and plan of merger with US-based …
