Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GILD]]), the Foster City, CA-based biotech company, said today it has agreed to acquire Branford, CT-based CGI Pharmaceuticals for as much as $120 million. Gilead has agreed to pay the majority of that sum upfront, and CGI could receive the rest if it achieves certain progress in clinical development. CGI has developed a library of small-molecule drugs that inhibit certain kinases that are thought to play a role in inflammatory diseases. CGI’s lead compound, in preclinical testing, is designed to hit spleen tyrosine kinase, a potential target for rheumatoid arthritis.
Author: Luke Timmerman
Luke is an award-winning journalist specializing in life sciences. He has served as national biotechnology editor for Xconomy and national biotechnology reporter for Bloomberg News. Luke got started covering life sciences at The Seattle Times, where he was the lead reporter on an investigation of doctors who leaked confidential information about clinical trials to investors. The story won the Scripps Howard National Journalism Award and several other national prizes. Luke holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and during the 2005-2006 academic year, he was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT.
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