Gilead Sciences, Second Genome Pair Up In Microbiome Research Pact Worth Up To USD 1.5 B

Gilead Sciences and South San Francisco-based Second Genome forged a four-year strategic collaboration worth more than $1.5 billion that will boost chances to discover and develop new targets and drug candidates for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease through microbiome research.

Additionally, the deal will call for the companies to work together to identify biomarkers associated with clinical response in up to five of Gilead’s pipeline compounds in inflammation, fibrosis and other diseases. To do so, Second Genome will utilize its proprietary Microbiome Analytics Platform to identify novel biomarkers associated with clinical response to Gilead’s investigational medicines.

The companies anticipate that the analytics platform will provide the latest insights in microbiome science to help “inform patient stratification and optimize potential treatments for patients in the future.”

In the announcement, the companies added that the analytics platform, in combination with additional discovery and development tools, will also seek to identify new targets and drug candidates relevant to IBD. This includes the identification of up to five novel IBD targets or drug candidates over the next four years, with an option to extend the collaboration for an additional two years, the companies said.-Bio Space