By Christy Santhosh
Feb 23 (Reuters) – Gilead Sciences will pay as much as $7.8 billion to acquire partner Arcellx in its largest deal since 2020, the biopharma company said on Monday, as it looks to strengthen its lineup of cancer treatments.
The company, with a strong foothold in HIV drugs and liver disease treatments, has been looking for growth beyond its core areas as it faces declining sales of its COVID-19 drug Veklury and prepares for future patent losses.
Under current CEO Daniel O’ Day, Gilead has pursued several big-ticket deals and partnerships including its $21 billion acquisition of Immunomedics in 2020.
The proposed Arcellx acquisition is an example of how companies are increasingly using early partnerships to secure privileged positions as potential buyers, particularly in competitive fields such as oncology, a person involved in the deal told Reuters.
Gilead will pay $115 per share in cash, which is a premium of 79% to the stock’s last close. Shares of Arcellx rose 77.9% to $114.06 in morning trading.
Kite Pharma, a unit of Gilead Sciences, was partnering with Arcellx to jointly develop and sell anito-cel – an experimental CAR-T therapy for multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer.
Several analysts said anito-cel could become a leading cell therapy in multiple myeloma and transform into a “multi-billion dollar product” for Gilead.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is currently reviewing the therapy as a fourth-line treatment, with a decision expected by December 23 this year.
RBC Capital Markets analyst Brian Abrahams said anito-cel had the potential for a better safety profile when compared to market-leading CAR-T therapy Carvykti.
Carvykti, developed by Johnson & Johnson and partner Legend Biotech, was launched in 2022 and generated about $1.9 billion in sales in 2025.
Gilead will also gain Arcellx’s early-stage experimental treatments for acute myeloid leukemia, a type of blood cancer, as well as generalized myasthenia gravis, a rare neuromuscular disease.
The deal, which is expected to close in the second quarter of 2026, will also remove up to $1.5 billion in potential milestone payments for Gilead, said BMO Capital Markets analyst Evan Seigerman.
Upon FDA approval of anito-cel, the proposed transaction is expected to be accretive to earnings per share in 2028 and beyond.
Gilead will also pay Arcellx shareholders $5 per share, contingent upon achieving cumulative anito-cel global net sales of at least $6 billion from launch through the end of 2029.
(Reporting by Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru and Sabrina Valle in New York; Editing by Leroy Leo and Pooja Desai)
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