Still riding the high of last year’s twice-yearly HIV PrEP approval of lenacapavir as Yeztugo, Gilead Sciences is approaching dealmaking from a “position of strength” as a more mature biopharma, according to CEO Daniel O’Day.
“When you're a company that's cured a disease and showed curative potential in another disease and are on the verge of ending an epidemic, you're kind of bold about your aspirations,” said O'Day, referring to the company’s hepatitis C and HIV medicines.
Since O’Day joined Gilead from Roche in 2018, the California company has built three primary focus areas: virology, cancer and inflammation. In all three, Gilead’s recent successes have given the pharma the luxury of being selective in the external assets it considers, O’Day explained.
“We hold the bar very high scientifically,” the CEO told journalists at a media event on the sidelines of the 2026 J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco. “We have the financial ability to bring in important medicines in the organization, but they’ve got to fit our strategy, and they have to really have a significant patient impact.”
Oncology was O’Day’s bread and butter at Roche, and a major part of his hiring at Gilead was an effort to boost cancer drug sales. One of his first big moves was a $21 billion buyout of Immunomedics, which gave Gilead the anti-TROP agent Trodelvy. The pharma is now looking ahead to a potential launch of Trodelvy in first-line metastatic breast cancer—though the blockbuster drug recently failed to improve progression-free survival in a phase 3 trial—and an upcoming phase 2 readout of the drug in non-small cell lung cancer.
When it comes to isolating innovative new cancer candidates, Chief Medical Officer Dietmar Berger, M.D., Ph.D.—who joined a year ago—has his eyes on more precise approaches.
“Gilead has classically been focusing a lot on immuno-oncology,” Berger said at the same JPM event.
The CMO said he wants to “drive that a little more into direct tumor cell targeting,” while taking advantage of Gilead’s antibody-drug conjugate platform and relationship with cell therapy subsidiary Kite Pharma. Kite is poised to debut anito-cel, a CAR-T challenger to Johnson & Johnson’s Carvykti, in multiple myeloma this year.
Cell therapy also comes into play in inflammation, Berger said, which is a more nascent area for Gilead. But the pharma’s growing collection of candidates hits “key nodes” of inflammation, he added, like a STAT6 degrader through a $1.7 billion deal with Leo Pharma unveiled at last year’s JPM.
“That takes us into type 2 inflammation and is really an important addition to the portfolio,” he said, referring to the kind of inflammation underlying conditions like asthma and atopic dermatitis.
While Gilead’s focus on both cancer and inflammation is fueled more by external innovation, the pharma is looking inward to build on its long history in virology. Gilead hopes to diversify the viruses it can treat, with the pharma’s efforts long centered on HIV and hepatitis.
Berger pointed to December’s decision to opt in to two genital herpes candidates from Assembly Biosciences to the tune of $35 million as an example of Gilead’s efforts to expand in virology. Gilead originally paid $100 million for the option to license Assembly’s assets in October 2023.
Related areas of interest include respiratory viruses and emerging viruses that could cause future pandemics, Berger told Fierce at the event.