Gilead Awards $7.5 Million in Second Round of Grants to Advance HIV Cure Research

- New Funds to Support Projects in HIV Cure Discovery -

FOSTER CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 16, 2017-- Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) today announced the second round of recipients of its HIV cure grants program. This new commitment will provide $7.5 million to support five additional HIV cure research initiatives led by top academic institutions and focused on translational research and efficacy studies in preclinical models.

“Finding a cure for HIV is a formidable challenge to the scientific community. Together with our newest grant recipients, all of whom have a record of excellence in their research, we can take collective steps to help end this devastating epidemic,” said William Lee, Ph.D., Executive Vice President, Research, Gilead Sciences. “We are proud to support these leaders in HIV research and are confident in their ability to make meaningful and measurable contributions in this area of unmet medical need.”

The following organizations and corresponding projects will receive grants from Gilead to help fund their activities (Institution/Principal Investigator/Project Name):

University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology, Chan Zuckerberg Biohub – Alexander Marson, M.D., Ph.D. – An Integrated CRISPR Platform to Discover Regulators of HIV Latency in Primary Human T Cells
Institute of Human Genetics, French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and University of Montpellier – Monsef Benkirane, Ph.D. – Paving the Way Towards Elimination of HIV Persistent CD4T Cell In Vivo
University of Massachusetts Medical School – Abraham L. Brass, M.D., Ph.D. – A CRISPR/Cas9 Screen to Discover HIV-1 Latency Factors
Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, AIDS and Cancer Virus Program – Jeffrey D. Lifson, M.D. – TLR Ligand Augmented, Tissue Homing AIDS Virus-Specific Adoptive Cell Therapy to Target Viral Reservoirs
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute – Joseph G. Sodroski, M.D. – Unlocking HIV-1 Env to Deplete Viral Reservoirs

The HIV cure grants program, initially announced in February 2016, underscores Gilead’s commitment to cure and ultimately eradicate HIV and AIDS through its research and development and philanthropic leadership. The first set of HIV cure grants, totaling more than $22 million, were awarded to 12 projects in January 2017.

For nearly 30 years, Gilead has been a leading innovator in the field of HIV, driving advances in treatment, prevention, testing and linkage to care, and cure research. In further efforts to end the HIV epidemic, Gilead is conducting early-stage clinical research to identify novel agents and strategies that could play a role in eradicating HIV infection in the body.

Gilead’s corporate giving program aims to reduce health disparities, provide access, advance medical education and support local communities. In 2016, Funders Concerned About AIDS (FCAA) recognized Gilead as the leading corporate global funder of HIV/AIDS programs, and second overall behind the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

About Gilead Sciences

Gilead Sciences is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and commercializes innovative therapeutics in areas of unmet medical need. The company’s mission is to advance the care of patients suffering from life-threatening diseases. Gilead has operations in more than 30 countries worldwide, with headquarters in Foster City, California.

For more information on Gilead Sciences, please visit the company’s website at www.gilead.com, follow Gilead on Twitter (@GileadSciences) or call Gilead Public Affairs at 1-800-GILEAD-5 or 1-650-574-3000

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Source: Gilead Sciences, Inc.

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