Gilead cancer strategy relies heavily on Yale collaboration

Gilead Sciences Inc. is best known for combining HIV-fighting drugs for AIDS patients, but it may draw on that experience as it pursues a two-pronged strategy in cancer.
After a decade away from the oncology space, Gilead’s buyouts of CGI Pharmaceuticals, Arresto Biosciences and Calistoga Pharmaceuticals over the past 18 months allow the Foster City-based biotech giant (NASDAQ: GILD) to hurdle some of the early cancer drug development challenges.
Given less attention, at least after the deal's initial announcement in March, is the company’s collaboration with heavy-hitting cancer researchers at Yale University. That $40 million, four-year effort is sequencing various types of tumors to identify new targets.