A roundup of news from Gilead Sciences, XinThera, and Lilly. Highlights below.

* Gilead Acquires Bio/Pharma Company XinThera 
* Gilead Sciences Names Ex-Roche Executive Head of Cell Therapy at Subsidiary Kite   
* Lilly Allocates Additional $50 M to its Social Impact Venture Capital Fund 

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Gilead Acquires Bio/Pharma Company XinThera 
Gilead Sciences has completed its acquisition of XinThera, a San Diego, California-based bio/pharmaceutical company. Through the acquisition, Gilead gains rights to a portfolio of small-molecule inhibitors targeting oncology and inflammatory diseases that could enter clinical trials later this year (2023).  

Source: Gilead Sciences 

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Gilead Sciences Names Ex-Roche Executive Head of Cell Therapy at Subsidiary Kite   
Gilead Sciences has named Cindy Perettie, formerly Head of Roche’s Molecular Lab Solutions, as Executive Vice President of Kite, a Gilead subsidiary, to oversee the company’s cell-therapy business, effective May 30, 2023. 

Perettie was most recently head of Roche’s Molecular Lab Solutions, where she oversaw the PCR (polymerase chain reaction) and sequencing business. Prior to that, she was CEO at Foundation Medicine, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based bio/pharmaceutical company. Before joining Foundation Medicine, she was Head of Global Oncology Strategy at Roche’s oncology unit.  

Source: Gilead Sciences 

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Lilly Allocates Additional $50 M to its Social Impact Venture Capital Fund 
Eli Lilly and Company has allocated an additional $50 million to its Social Impact Venture Capital Portfolio. The additional $50 million will go toward venture capital firms that specialize in near- and long-term healthcare solutions, such as hospital systems, pharmacies, medical devices, digital health, diagnostics, and therapeutics, for patients in low- and middle-income countries. The total commitment to the Social Impact Venture Capital Fund is now $300 million.  

Included in this allocation is a recent commitment to LeapFrog Emerging Consumer Fund IV. LeapFrog is an impact growth equity fund investing in South and Southeast Asian and African businesses that provides healthcare solutions to low-income consumers by offering affordable products to promote wellness and help prevent and manage chronic diseases. 

Lilly launched the Social Impact Venture Capital Portfolio in 2020 with a $100-million commitment to the AMR Action Fund, which aims to bring two to four new antibiotics against multi-drug resistant pathogens by 2030. In April 2023, the AMR Action Fund announced its latest investments in biotech companies targeting a range of infections.   

Since 2020, Lilly has allocated $150 million as part of its Racial Justice Commitment, $110 million of which has already been committed to eight newly formed US-based minority-led venture capital firms.  

Source: Eli Lilly and Company