When Gilead said in April 2026 that it would pay up to 5 billion dollars for a Munich start-up, the figure that stood out was the upfront part: 2.7 billion euros in cash, with 1.6 billion more tied to milestones. For a company whose products are still in clinical trials, that was a vote of confidence.
Tubulis develops antibody-drug conjugates, or ADCs, which pair an antibody that seeks out a cancer cell with a toxic payload that kills it. The aim is to hit the tumour and spare healthy tissue. Its lead candidate, TUB-040, is being tested in ovarian and lung cancer, and a second molecule, TUB-030, has shown early promising data.
Schumacher said the funds would let it test therapies in earlier lines of treatment and across more tumour types.
The company is led by co-founder and chief executive Dominik Schumacher.
The money tells the story. In October 2025 Tubulis closed a Series C round of 308 million euros, around 358 million dollars, which took total financing to roughly 495 million euros. Schumacher said the funds would let it test therapies in earlier lines of treatment and across more tumour types. An earlier upsized Series B2 raised 128 million euros.
Six months after the Series C, the buyer arrived. Gilead's chairman and CEO Daniel O'Day was quoted in the announcement. The plan was that Tubulis would stay as an independent research unit inside Gilead and that Munich would remain an ADC innovation hub. Closing was expected in the second quarter of 2026.
The pace says something to founders. In biotech, the market does not wait for approval: it pays for evidence that a platform can produce candidates that work in humans. A start-up that reaches that point can choose between independence and a big partner. Tubulis, with plenty of cash, chose the second.