Gate Bioscience Expands Collaboration and License Agreement with Lilly to Target Difficult-to-Drug Proteins
Multi-year expansion of the companies’ 2025 agreement to use Gate’s Molecular Gate drug discovery engine to design
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BRISBANE, Calif., Oct. 05, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Gate Bioscience, a biotechnology company developing molecular gates, a new class of small molecule medicines that eliminate disease-causing proteins at their source, today announced an expansion of its collaboration and license agreement with Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly) to discover, develop, and commercialize molecular gate therapeutics. The expanded collaboration adds one target, with the opportunity to add a second target, to the companies’ existing work. The programs leverage Gate’s Molecular Gate drug discovery engine to identify medicines capable of eliminating specific difficult-to-drug proteins in diseases of high unmet medical need.
Under the terms of the multi-year research collaboration, Gate will receive an upfront payment and a subsequent payment upon selection of the second target, plus research funding to support its discovery efforts. Gate will also be eligible to receive payments upon achievement of certain preclinical, clinical, and commercial milestones, as well as tiered royalties on global net sales. The total potential value of the agreement could exceed $870 million, contingent on the achievement of milestones. Lilly will receive an exclusive, worldwide license to research, develop, commercialize, and otherwise exploit products arising from the collaboration for the selected targets.
“Our existing collaboration with Lilly has shown that our discovery engine can systematically deliver selective molecular gates against difficult-to-drug proteins,” said Jordi Mata-Fink, Ph.D., co-founder and CEO of Gate Bioscience. “Expanding into an additional therapeutic area reflects Lilly’s confidence in that engine and in the team behind it. Lilly’s expertise has accelerated our progress, and the collaboration strengthens the wholly owned portfolio of molecular gate medicines we continue to build alongside it.”
Gate will lead discovery efforts under the agreement, applying its Molecular Gate Discovery Platform to selected targets, while continuing to advance its wholly owned portfolio of molecular gate medicines toward the clinic. Lilly will be responsible for later-stage preclinical development, clinical development, manufacturing, and commercialization of medicines arising from the collaboration.
Molecular gates are orally available small molecule drugs that eliminate a target protein potently and selectively by blocking the protein’s progress through the secretory channel Sec61, leading to degradation of the target protein. Among the approximately 4,000 targets of molecular gates are many high-value targets in the areas of immunology, neuroscience, cardiometabolic health and other diseases, which currently have no therapies or require injectables to eliminate the target protein.
About Gate Bioscience
Gate Bioscience is a biotechnology company developing molecular gates, a new class of small molecule medicines that eliminate disease-causing proteins at their source. Gate’s proprietary Molecular Gate Discovery Platform enables the rapid and repeatable discovery of selective molecular gates against difficult-to-drug proteins across multiple therapeutic areas. The platform integrates a privileged library of molecular gate compounds, a suite of secretion-focused assays and technologies, and deep expertise in the biology of the secretory pathway. Gate is backed by Forbion, Versant Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), GV, ARCH Venture Partners, and Eli Lilly and Company. For more information, visit www.gatebio.com.
Media Contact:
Carly Scaduto
THRUST Strategic Communications
carly@thrustsc.com
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