Gilead teams up with microbiome startup to hunt for biomarkers

A San Francisco microbiome startup has inked a deal with Gilead to help the pharmaceutical company find new biomarkers for inflammatory diseases, as well as to pinpoint potential drug targets for inflammatory bowel disease. 

The company, Second Genome, will be tasked with finding new biomarkers that can show whether some of Gilead’s drug candidates are working. The four-year deal, announced Monday, could be worth up to $1.5 billion. Second Genome will receive just $32 million upfront. 

This isn’t the first collaboration of its kind. Both Janssen and Bristol Myers Squibb signed biomarker discovery deals with other microbiome startups in 2018 and 2016, though financial details on those deals were scarce.