In a deal worth up to US$470 M, Gilead Sciences has agreed to acquirePhenex Pharmaceuticals’ development programme of farnesoid X receptor (FXR) agonistsfor non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and other liver diseases, including its Phase II asset Px-104. NASH is a chronic disease characterised by inflammation and the excessive accumulation of fat in the liver, for which there are no approved therapies.With the purchase, Px-104 becomes the second product in Gilead’s pipeline under development for this indicationjoining simtuzumab, which targets the human lysyl oxidase-like-2 (LOXL2) protein.