Gilead and Tango Therapeutics Expand Strategic Collaboration in Oncology with Potential Value Exceeding $6 Billion

Compiled by Keke

On August 17 local time, Gilead Sciences and Tango Therapeutics announced an expanded strategic collaboration to discover, develop, and commercialize innovative therapies targeting immune evasion in cancer patients, with potential deal value reaching up to $6 billion.

Under the terms of the collaboration, Gilead Sciences will pay Tango Therapeutics an upfront payment of $125 million and make a $20 million equity investment in the latter. Throughout this seven-year partnership, Gilead will have the option to select up to 15 programs, with option fees, extension payments, and milestone payments for each program totaling up to $410 million. Tango will also be eligible to receive double-digit royalties on net sales of commercialized products.

For products jointly developed and co-promoted by Tango, both parties will share equally in the profits, losses, and development costs in the United States, and Tango will be eligible to receive milestone payments and royalties from sales outside the United States. Regarding these products, Gilead Sciences will have the right to obtain global rights to these target programs and may participate in early clinical development; Tango will have the right to lead the joint development and promotion of five leading products in the United States.

In October 2018, the two companies first established a strategic collaboration valued at up to $1.7 billion, including commercial milestone payments. This new agreement supersedes the one signed in 2018. Dr. William A. Lee, Executive Vice President of Research at Gilead Sciences, stated, “Since signing the initial agreement two years ago, we have been highly satisfied with the productivity of the collaboration and the quality of the resulting scientific discoveries. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Tango Therapeutics to conduct additional cancer-context screening and identify a broader range of targets aligned with our immuno-oncology strategy.”

Since Daniel O’Day joined Gilead Sciences in March 2019, the majority of Gilead’s oncology collaborations have followed a similar structure: a substantial upfront payment, along with option-in rights of varying scales. However, this transaction differs slightly, as it is built upon two years of collaborative research between the two companies that remains in the preclinical stage. For Gilead, the deal represents a significant yet low-risk investment in a relatively unique platform that can be combined with other immuno-oncology (I/O) agents into which O’Day has invested billions of dollars. Existing evidence indicates that, clinically, immune evasion-targeting therapies achieve optimal efficacy almost exclusively when used in combination with checkpoint inhibitors.

Tango Therapeutics is a U.S.-headquartered biotechnology company dedicated to providing next-generation targeted therapies for cancer patients. The company employs a patient-centric approach, leveraging the principle of synthetic lethality to develop treatments targeting cancer-driving genes. Tango focuses on three core areas: countering the loss of tumor suppressor genes, reversing the ability of cancer cells to evade the immune system, and identifying novel combination therapies that are more effective than single-agent treatments.

Tango's Pipeline in Development

Source: Company Website

In 2017, Tango Therapeutics introduced a novel technology called CRISPR knockout screening, which involves the systematic use of CRISPR to knock out genes in various animal models and cell lines to identify those essential for cancer cell survival. Prominent figures in cancer research—including William Kaelin, the 2019 Nobel Laureate, and José Baselga, then Head of Oncology R&D at AstraZeneca—recognized the potential of this technology in three key areas: synthetic lethality, occult cancer drivers, and immuno-oncology.

Although the use of CRISPR to knock out genes in cell lines is now relatively common, Tango aims to identify which genes enable cancer cells to evade immune detection. To achieve this, they need to establish mouse models that possess both a functional immune system and tumors, and then perform CRISPR screening in these mice—a technique that is even rarer, if not unheard of.

Unlike some of Gilead’s previous investments in checkpoint therapies or therapies targeting the tumor microenvironment, Tango’s projects rely on targeting the tumor itself by identifying the genetic strategies it uses to hide. Tango has been developing specialized programs to complement Gilead’s existing portfolio, such as the innovative CD47-targeting drug acquired through its 2019 acquisition of Forty Seven.

It is understood that this collaboration has so far yielded two preclinical candidates, one of which is in Tango’s “hit-to-lead” pipeline and the other in an advanced optimization stage. Meanwhile, Tango is poised to announce its fastest-developing candidate of the year, a synthetic lethal agent targeting genes essential for cancer cell survival (but not for most healthy cells), with an Investigational New Drug (IND) application expected to be filed around late 2021.

Reference Sources:

1、Gilead Sciences and Tango Therapeutics to Expand Strategic Oncology Collaboration

2、Daniel O’Day’s I/O dance continues, as Gilead and Tango expand deal up to $6B