DUBLIN – In what is a truly transformative deal for each company, Gilead Sciences Inc. and Galapagos NV are entering a 10-year research and development alliance under which Galapagos is getting $3.95 billion up front in hard cash plus another $1.1 billion in equity, in return for which Gilead will essentially have an option to ex-European rights on everything emanating from the Belgium firm's clinical and preclinical pipeline. That includes six clinical-stage programs, another 20 in preclinical research and whatever else Galapagos may bring forward – or bring in through its own business development efforts – over the term of the agreement.

HONG KONG – Prestige Biopharma Pte. Ltd., a Singapore-headquartered pharmaceutical company under the Prestige Group, has agreed to grant exclusive license to U.K.-based multinational company Mundipharma International Ltd. for distribution and sale of its trastuzumab biosimilar, Tuznue, in western European markets, including France, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Portugal, Switzerland and Austria.

Macrogenics Inc. is taking a further step into Asia as it joins with I-Mab Biopharma (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. in a collaboration and license agreement to develop and commercialize enoblituzumab, an immune-optimized, anti-B7-H3 monoclonal antibody.

Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc's acquisition of Redx Pharma plc's pan-RAF inhibitor program for treating RAF- and RAS-mutant tumors was rocket fuel for Redx's stock (AIM:REDX), which closed 108% higher than it opened, offering some relief for the struggling company.

DUBLIN – Aicuris Anti-infective Cures GmbH is pursuing a novel approach to harnessing phage therapy in the fight against antibiotic-resistant infections, by in-licensing from Lysando AG a platform technology that relies on phage-encoded enzymes rather than the infectious particles themselves to lyse pathogenic bacteria. Financial terms were not disclosed, but the deal gives Aicuris exclusive access to Lysando's artilysin platform for pharmaceutical applications.

Altimmune Inc. will acquire Spitfire Pharma Inc. and its lead candidate, SP-1373 (to be renamed ALT-801), a GLP-1/glucagon receptor co-agonist for treating nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).

Merck & Co. Inc. has tapped Skyhawk Therapeutics Inc. for its expertise in the discovery and development of small molecules that modulate RNA splicing, agreeing to pay it up to $600 million per program target plus royalties on sales of any commercialized products of the collaboration. The deal, focused on potential treatments for certain neurological diseases and cancer, was accompanied by news of an expansion of Skyhawk's collaboration with Biogen Inc., which originally signed on with the Waltham, Mass-based company in January.

HONG KONG – Belgian drugmaker Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, has decided to return the rights of diabetic obesity treatment HM-12525A to Hanmi Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. The South Korean company said the decision followed phase II testing by Janssen, which showed the drug achieved the weight loss endpoint but didn't reach Janssen's internal criteria for blood glucose control in obese patients with diabetes.

HONG KONG – To improve public health care in Brazil, Bioneer Corp., a South Korean biotech, and Brazilian government-run Institute of Technology on Imunobiologicals (Bio-Manguinhos) will focus on business development and R&D of in vitro diagnostics and new drugs.

Keeping with the trend of high-value biopharma deals, the second quarter of 2019 logged another eight partnerships worth $1 billion or more, with Gilead Sciences Inc. a party to three of them.