In an effort to reduce its reliance on its market-leading HIV franchise, Gilead Sciences has entered into another diversifying, early-stage deal by purchasing Arresto Biosciences for US$225 M in cash and future sales-based payments. Arresto develops drugs for fibrotic diseases and cancer by targeting enzymes involved in the synthesis of the extracellular matrix. The deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2011, will add the first monoclonal antibody to Gilead’s pipeline.