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 The deal provides Gilead access to Immunomedics' breast cancer
treatment drug Trodelvy, which was granted an accelerated FDA
approval in April for an aggressive and tough to treat type of
breast cancer.
Gilead said it would issue a tender offer to buy all the outstanding
shares of Immunomedics for $88 per share, representing a premium of
about 108% over their last closing price of $42.25 on Sept. 11.
"This acquisition represents significant progress in Gilead's work
to build a strong and diverse oncology portfolio," Gilead Chief
Executive Officer Daniel O'Day said in a statement. "Trodelvy is an
approved, transformational medicine for a form of cancer that is
particularly challenging to treat. We will now continue to explore
its potential to treat many other types of cancer."
Immunomedics is also on track to file for regulatory approval for
Trodelvy in Europe in the first half of 2021, according to the
statement.
The deal shows renewed industry confidence in an approach in
oncology to pair antibodies with toxic agents to fight cancer.
Trodelvy is a so-called antibody-drug conjugates, or ADC, a class
described by researchers as "guided missiles" that zero in on
tumours to release cytotoxins that deliver up to 10,000 times the
potency of standard chemotherapy, while minimizing damage to healthy
tissue.
In previous landmark deals for the field, AstraZeneca last year
committed up to $7 billion for rights to Daiichi Sankyo's Enhertu,
another breast-cancer targeted ADC. It followed up in July with a
deal worth up to $6 billion for DS-1062, another ADC developed by
the Japanese drugmaker.
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Trodelvy targets triple-negative breast cancer that has spread to other organs.
Both aggressive and tough to treat, those tumour types account for 15-20% of
breast cancers, lacking three genetic characteristics for which there are more
treatment options.
Cancer immunotherapy Tecentriq by Daniel O'Day's former employer Roche has
emerged as a new treatment option for this patient group.
Gilead's offer will be funded with $15 billion in cash on hand, and through $6
billion in newly issued debt, according to the drugmaker.
The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2020, the
companies said.
The acquisition of Immunomedics is the latest of the several Gilead inked this
year with the aim of expanding its oncology portfolio.
It bought a 49.9% stake in cancer drug developer Pionyr Immunotherapeutics in
June for $275 million, just months after paying $4.9 billion for Forty Seven
Inc, maker of an experimental treatment that targets blood cancer.
(Reporting by Ann Maria Shibu in Bengaluru and Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt;
Editing by Peter Cooney, Diane Craft and Susan Fenton)
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