By Colin Kellaher

 

Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) on Friday said it licensed three preclinical antiviral programs from Novartis AG (NVS), including investigational agents with the potential to treat human rhinovirus, influenza and herpes viruses.

The Foster City, Calif., biopharmaceutical said it will acquire exclusive global rights to develop and commercialize novel small molecules against three undisclosed targets.

Gilead said it will make an upfront payment to Novartis, adding that the Swiss drugmaker is eligible to receive up to an additional $291 million in potential development and commercial milestone payments, along with royalties on product sales.

Gilead earlier this week said it will pay $5.1 billion to boost its stake in Galapagos NV (GLPG) and gain rights outside Europe to the Belgian biotechnology company's treatments in development.

 

Write to Colin Kellaher at colin.kellaher@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 19, 2019 09:04 ET (13:04 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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