Gilead has now passed on two biotech buyout options that it forged in summer 2020.
The large drugmaker will not acquire Tizona Therapeutics, a fellow California biotech working on a new type of checkpoint therapy for certain cancers, a Gilead spokesperson confirmed to
Endpoints News
via email on Tuesday evening.
Gilead had
paid about $300 million
in July 2020 to acquire almost 50% of Tizona and held onto the right to swoop up the rest for a $100 million fee, plus as much as $1.2 billion more down the road in development and regulatory biobucks. Earlier that summer, Gilead had inked a similar option with Pionyr Immunotherapeutics, but in March 2023, the drugmaker
opted not to follow through
with a full buyout of that biotech either.