Three months after losing a large pharma company collaborator for filgotinib, a phase 3–ready inhibitor of Janus associated kinase-1 (JAK1) for treating inflammatory diseases, Galapagos, in Mechelen, Belgium, is partnering with Gilead Sciences to complete development of the drug. The new deal calls for Gilead, in Foster City, California, to make and market filgotinib, with Galapagos retaining a right to co-promote in certain European territories. Gilead is paying $725 million upfront, which includes an approximately 15% equity stake in Galapagos. Phase 2 trial data show that filgotinib may be used to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and Crohn's disease, and the companies expect to start phase 3 trials in these two conditions in 2016. Despite favorable phase 2b results in April 2015, North Chicago's Abbvie declined its option on filgotinib and is focusing on developing its home-grown JAK inhibitor for treating RA, ABT-494. New York-based Pfizer's Xeljanz (tofacitinib) is the only JAK inhibitor approved as an RA therapy (Nat. Biotechnol. 31, 3–4, 2013); Incyte, in Wilmington, Delaware, and Indianapolis, Indiana-based Eli Lilly are developing the JAK3 inhibitor baricitinib, which is now in phase 3 for RA and phase 2 for psoriasis. The Gilead deal sets up filgotinib as a leading asset for the top-tier biotech to treat inflammatory diseases, alongside its matrix metalloproteinase 9 inhibitor GS-5745 for autoimmune diseases, now in a late-stage study in ulcerative colitis and a phase 2 in Crohn's. Gilead is also developing the JAK1/2 inhibitor momelitinib, in myelofibrosis and pancreatic and non–small cell cancer.