Gilead Sciences Announces $11.9 Billion Purchase of CAR-T Developer Kite Pharma
Gilead Sciences will acquire Kite Pharma by the end of 2017 in an $11.9 billion transaction that will place Gilead at the forefront of chimeric antigen receptor-T (CAR-T) cell therapy development.
Gilead Sciences will acquire Kite Pharma by the end of 2017 in an $11.9 billion transaction that will place Gilead at the forefront of chimeric antigen receptor-T (CAR-T) cell therapy development.
The news was announced in
The major driver of this substantial valuation is Kite’s work on CAR-T therapy, a form of cancer-fighting immunotherapy. The company had been buoyed by a string of good news regarding its most advanced CAR-T therapy in recent months, from encouraging clinical trial results to its acceptance for priority review by the FDA.
The treatment, axicabtagene ciloleucel, showed
In between these 2 promising clinical findings, Kite
Besides this frontrunner, known as axi-cel, Kite also has clinical trials ongoing for several other immuno-oncology drug candidates, including the CAR-T therapy KITE-585 for use in multiple myeloma. Gilead expressed enthusiasm about this strong pipeline and the broader future of CAR-T therapy in its announcement of the purchase.
“The acquisition of Kite establishes Gilead as a leader in cellular therapy and provides a foundation from which to drive continued innovation for people with advanced cancers,” said John F. Milligan, president and CEO of Gilead. “We are greatly impressed with the Kite team and what they have accomplished, and share their belief that cell therapy will be the cornerstone of treating cancer.”
Kite also voiced excitement about the transaction and its implications for developing more innovative immunotherapies.
“CAR-T has the potential to become one of the most powerful anti-cancer agents for hematologic cancers,” said Arie Belldegrun, MD, FACS, chairman, president, and CEO of Kite, in the joint statement. “With Gilead’s expertise and support, we hope to fulfill that potential by rapidly accelerating our robust pipeline and next-generation research and manufacturing technologies for the benefit of patients around the world.”
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