Ex-Gilead execs bag $80M to trial drug licensed from Merck KGaA

Vera Therapeutics has raised $80 million to take a drug licensed from Merck KGaA into a phase 2b kidney disease clinical trial. The drug, atacicept, has failed multiple autoimmune clinical trials, but the leadership at Vera, which is heavy on former Gilead staffers, thinks it has a future in IgA nephropathy.