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Gilead Sciences is buying its CAR-T collaborator Arcellx as its closely-watched multiple myeloma cell therapy nears potential approval and launch. The deal is worth $7.8 billion, when calculated from $115 per share in cash. There is also one contingent value right of $5 per share once certain future sales milestones are met. At the center of the buyout is anito-cel, which is the multiple myeloma CAR-T cell therapy that Gilead and Arcellx are already developing together. The treatment is expected to be a safer option compared to the current go-to CAR-T therapy for multiple myeloma, Johnson & Johnson and Legend Biotech’s Carvykti, which generated $1.9 billion in revenue last year. The two CAR-T treatments have drawn considerable comparisons and led to an intense rivalry between their developers. Gilead has filed for FDA approval of anito-cel and said it plans to launch the cell therapy for fourth-line and later multiple myeloma patients in the second half of this year. Ahead of the buyout announcement, Gilead already owned 12% of Arcellx. The two companies announced their initial partnership in 2022 for the multiple myeloma cell therapy. Through its subsidiary Kite, Gilead currently markets two blood cancer cell therapies, Yescarta and Tecartus.

Gilead Sciences is deepening its investment in cell therapy, agreeing on Monday to acquire its longtime development partner Arcellx in a $7.8 billion deal centered around an experimental multiple myeloma treatment.Gilead already owned about 11.5% of Arcellxs equity prior to the deals announcement. It will now pay $115 per share for the rest of Arcellxs stock, representing a roughly 79% premium to the companys closing price on Friday. Arcellx stockholders could receive another $5 per share in future payouts, too, should the biotechs top program, anito-cel, win approval and go on to generate $6 billion in cumulative net sales through the end of 2029.The deal is expected to close during the second quarter.Gilead is best known for its HIV drugs. But its also long been a leader in cancer cell therapy, a way of modifying the bodys immune defenders to hunt and kill tumors. Through its $12 billion acquisition of Kite Pharma nearly a decade ago, the company acquired two blood cancer therapies now known as Yescarta and Tecartus. Those therapies are the centerpiece of a business that now brings in more than $1 billion annually and that Gilead has looked to as a way to diversify into oncology.Still, Gileads cell therapy business took years to ramp up, part of a broader struggle companies have had profitably selling complex treatments that take weeks to make and are largely administered at major institutions. And of late, sales have declined amid pressure from newer competitors. In its latest earnings report last month, Gilead said overall cell therapy sales fell 7% in 2025 and predicted theyll slide by another 10% in 2026.Yet Gilead sees anito-cel potentially turning that business around. Arcellx medicine imbues T cells with the ability to fight multiple myeloma, a progressive cancer of the bone marrow. That therapy has already been submitted for U.S. approval based on study results showing a 96% response rate among recipients whose multiple myeloma had relapsed, or hadnt responded to, at least three prior treatments. A decision is expected by Dec. 23.Effective, marketed cell therapies from Johnson & Johnson and Bristol Myers Squibb work similarly, as do a handful of bispecific antibody therapies. Gilead, for its part, said in a statement that anito-cel has demonstrated deep and durable responses with a predictable and manageable safety profile, which addresses key challenges associated with existing multiple myeloma cell therapies. The companies have been aiming to prove, for instance, that people who receive anito-cel have a lower risk of a cell therapy-related side effect called parkinsonism.Antio cel could become a foundational treatment for multiple myeloma over time, including earlier lines of therapy, said CEO Daniel ODay, in the statement.The therapy has shown generally comparable efficacy to Carvykti with the potential for a better safety, wrote RBC Capital Markets analyst Brian Abrahams, in a Monday note to clients. But Gilead and Arcellx are behind competitors in an area where early entrenchment may be important. The degree of market acceptance for a cell therapy in the earliest lines of care is also unclear, he added.Like some of its peers, Gilead has also invested in in vivo treatments that modify cells inside the body and are seen as more convenient alternatives to existing therapies. Gilead claimed that some Arcellx research could be useful there, in addition to helping produce next-generation cell therapies and bispecific antibodies.Arcellx went public in February 2022 at $15 per share. It began working with Gilead several months later and expanded the collaboration in 2023. That alliance gave Gilead partial rights in the U.S. and full ownership elsewhere. '