FOSTER CITY, Calif. & HAYWARD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Gilead Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: GILD) and Arcus Biosciences, Inc. (NYSE: RCUS), an oncology-focused biopharmaceutical company working to create best-in-class cancer therapeutics, announced today the closing of their option and co-development and co-commercialization partnership agreement signed on May 27, 2020.
The closing occurred following the expiration of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976.
Under the terms of the agreements, the closing of this transaction triggered a payment of $175 million by Gilead to Arcus. In addition, Gilead made an equity investment in Arcus of approximately $200 million by purchasing shares at a price of $33.54 per share. As a result of this investment and Gilead’s participation in Arcus’s follow-on offering on May 28, 2020, Gilead now owns nearly 8.2 million shares of common stock of Arcus, representing approximately 13 percent of Arcus’s outstanding shares.
About Arcus Biosciences
Arcus Biosciences is an oncology-focused biopharmaceutical company leveraging its deep cross-disciplinary expertise to discover highly differentiated therapies and to develop a broad portfolio of novel combinations addressing significant unmet needs. Arcus currently has four molecules in clinical development. AB928, the first and only dual A2a/A2b adenosine receptor antagonist in the clinic, is being evaluated in multiple Phase 1b/2 studies across different indications, including prostate, colorectal, non-small cell lung, pancreatic, triple-negative breast and renal cell cancers. AB680, the first small-molecule CD73 inhibitor in the clinic, is in Phase 1 development for first-line treatment of metastatic pancreatic cancer in combination with zimberelimab and gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel. AB154, an anti-TIGIT monoclonal antibody and new potential immuno-oncology backbone therapy, is in a three-arm randomized Phase 2 study for first-line treatment of PD-L1-high metastatic non-small cell lung cancer evaluating zimberelimab monotherapy, AB154 with zimberelimab and AB154 plus AB928 with zimberelimab. Zimberelimab (AB122), Arcus’s anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody, is also being evaluated in a Phase 1b study as monotherapy for cancers with no approved anti-PD-1 treatment options, and in various combinations across the portfolio. For more information about Arcus Biosciences, please visit www.arcusbio.com.
