Gilead Sciences has found a shiny new package for one of its cancer assets, inking a research pact worth up to $300 million biobucks to access OncoNano Medicine’s tumor-targeting lipid particles.
The deal’s total value includes Gilead opting to expand the partnership to include another undisclosed target, plus an undisclosed upfront amount and possible milestone payments, OncoNano announced in a Jan. 6 release. The company would also be eligible to receive potential royalties.
Gilead and OncoNano will work together to wrap one of Gilead’s cancer drug candidates in OncoNano’s ON-BOARD capsule, which is a type of lipid particle called a micelle. The partners did not disclose which of Gilead’s long list of cancer candidates will be studied.
“Our platform is designed to localize drug delivery into tumors with high spatial and temporal specificity,” OncoNano CEO Kartik Krishnan, M.D., Ph.D., said in the release. “We believe it can complement Gilead’s oncology expertise to bring effective treatment options to patients.”
In addition to partnering its capsule tech, Dallas-based OncoNano has a pipeline of its own, led by a Regeneron-partnered solid tumor asset called ONM-501. The biotech shared first-in-human data from the dual-acting STING agonist—its first clinical-stage drug candidate—in October 2025.
The ongoing phase 1 trial is testing ONM-501 alone and in combination with Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody Libtayo (cemiplimab). In an October release, Krishnan said the results “provide the first clinical evidence that sustained STING activation through our proprietary polymer conjugate can drive meaningful immune responses in solid tumors.”
STING, which stands for stimulator of interferon genes, is part of a broader immune pathway known to be involved in cancer progression.
Gilead has kicked off the new year with a pair of oncology deals. Along with the new OncoNano pact, the California company paid $25 million upfront just a few days ago for the rights to Repare Therapeutics' polymerase theta (Polθ) ATPase inhibitor RP-3467.