Gilead Sciences To Acquire Ouro Medicines

(RTTNews) - Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD), on Monday, entered into a definitive agreement to acquire privately held Ouro Medicines.

The deal includes $1.675 billion in upfront cash, with up to $500 million in additional milestone payments, and aims to strengthen the company's inflammation and autoimmune disease portfolio.

The acquisition adds OM336 or gamgertamig, a clinical-stage BCMAxCD3 T cell engager designed for rapid and deep B cell depletion following a limited treatment course.

The therapy is currently being evaluated in Phase 1/2 studies for autoimmune hemolytic anemia and immune thrombocytopenia, with plans to enter registrational studies in 2027.

The company said OM336 has shown strong early efficacy and a differentiated safety profile after a single treatment cycle, with potential to enable durable immune reset and drug-free remission in certain patients.

Additionally, the company is in advanced discussions with Galapagos NV (GLPG) for a potential research and development collaboration related to the acquired assets.

Under the proposed collaboration, Galapagos would fund 50% of the upfront and milestone payments and take on most of Ouro's operations and employees.

The development costs for OM336 would be borne by Galapagos through registrational studies, after which both companies would share costs equally.

Gilead would retain global commercialization rights, excluding Greater China, and would pay Galapagos royalties ranging from 20% to 23% of net sales.

On Monday, Gilead Sciences closed trading 0.09% higher at $137.34 on the Nasdaq. In the overnight trading, Gilead Sciences traded 0.09% lesser at $137.21.

On Monday, Galapagos closed trading 0.34% lesser at $31.90 on the Nasdaq. In the after-hours, Galapagos traded 0.31% higher at $32.