Gilead Sciences is set to acquire Ouro Medicines for $2.2bn, marking the company’s first move into the T-cell engager (TCE) space and a deepening of ties with long-term partner, Galapagos.
Through this deal, the California-based big pharma company will hand over $1.68bn upfront, while pledging up to $500m in milestone payments to absorb the latter’s BCMA/CD3-targeting TCE, gamgertamig (OM336). The therapy is currently in clinical development for antibody-mediated orphan diseases such as immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) and autoimmune haemolytic anaemia (AIHA).
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
According to Citi analysts, Gilead’s Ouro acquisition both aligns with the big pharma company’s plans to diversify beyond HIV and complements the autoimmune push its subsidiary, Kite is currently making.
While this is all standard protocol for an acquisition, Gilead may add a layer of complexity to the deal, as the company is in late-stage negotiations with Galapagos to co-develop gamgertamig.
Potentially building on the pair’s long-term partnership, the acquisition could see Galapagos join the equation by taking on half of the upfront and milestone payments, as well as any costs centred around registrational trials involving gamgertamig.
In exchange, Galapagos would absorb Ouro’s operating assets and employees, while securing 20-23% of gamgertamig’s net sales outside of greater China, if the drug were to make it to market.
Ouro previously bought the ex-Greater China rights to gamgertamig from Keymed Biosciences in January 2025.
Deal signals Galapagos’ pipeline plan
Galapagos’ ploy to expand its pipeline comes as the company goes through a period of significant restructuring. In October 2025, the biotech shuttered its cell therapy unit, marking a move away from a modality that has polarised the pharma industry in recent years.
Instead of betting on cell therapies, Galapagos plans to drive its future success through the acquisition of lucrative pipeline candidates. The biotech will achieve this with its €3bn ($3.5bn) in cash reserves, which the company will use to acquire “late-stage” assets in the immunology and oncology sectors, Galapagos CEO, Henry Gosebruch previously told Pharmaceutical Technology.
Currently, Galapagos’ pipeline includes one drug, GLPG3667, which the company is developing for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and dermatomyositis. GLPG3667 is an oral tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2) blocker, which has demonstrated mixed efficacy in mid-stage trials thus far.
TCEs take on the autoimmune space
In previous years, pharma companies have primarily developed TCEs for use in oncology, with candidates like Johnson & Johnson’s Tecvayli (teclistamab) and AbbVie & Genmab’s Epkinly (epcoritamab) securing approval in multiple myeloma and B-cell lymphomas, respectively.
Now that the potential of TCEs have been realised in the oncology field, several big pharma players are betting on the modality’s potential in the autoimmune space.
This includes Sanofi, which inked a $1.23bn deal with Kali Therapeutics for its lead autoimmune disease-focused trispecific antibody, KT501, in March 2026.
Boehringer Ingelheim forged a similar agreement with CDR-Life in November 2025, handing over up to $570m for the global rights to the latter’s trispecific autoimmune therapy, CDR111.
New companies like Excalipoint Therapeutics are also emerging with significant seed funding in this space, highlighting investor interest in the approach.
