Biotech company Gilead Sciences is in-licensing a preclinical cancer immunotherapy asset that is expected to undergo regulatory review for clinical testing next year.
Foster City, California-based Gilead said Tuesday that it had licensed Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Jounce Therapeutics’ drug candidate JTX-1811. The deal includes an upfront payment of $85 million from Gilead and an equity investment of $35 million. Gilead could also pay up to $685 million in milestone payments, along with high-single-digit to mid-teen royalties on sales.
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Shares of Jounce rose 65.5% on the Nasdaq when markets opened Tuesday and were still up more than 47% in late-morning trading. Gilead’s shares fell by 2.5%.
JTX-1811 is a monoclonal antibody that targets the chemokine receptor CCR8, thereby depleting immunosuppressive tumor-infiltrating T-regulatory, or TITR cells, in which the antigen is expressed at high density and which are known to suppress anti-tumor immunity. Jounce presented preclinical data on JTX-1811 at the American Association for Cancer Research’s virtual annual meeting in June, indicating that in mouse models, a surrogate antibody against CCR8 was effective as a single agent and in combination with PD-1 checkpoint inhibitors in tumors that were resistant to the latter drugs.
An investigational new drug application filing with the Food and Drug Administration to start clinical trials of JTX-1811 is expected in the first half of next year, the companies said.
“Gilead’s investment in Jounce, and specifically JTX-1811, reinforces the value of our translational science platform and differentiated and sustainable approach to novel immuno-oncology programs, focused on patients with cancer who have yet to benefit from immunotherapy,” Jounce CEO Richard Murray said in a statement. “We look forward to seeing JTX-1811 progress to the clinic.”
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In addition to JTX-1811, other assets in Jounce’s pipeline include vopratelimab, an ICOS-targeting monoclonal antibody in Phase II development, as well as JTX-4014, a PD-1 inhibitor in Phase I testing. Another, JTX-8064, is an LILRB2-targeting antibody in late IND-enabling studies.
Gilead has made a number of deals and acquisitions this year to beef up its oncology pipeline. These include the $145 million expansion earlier this month of an existing deal with Tango Therapeutics, the $275 million acquisition of a nearly 50% equity interest in cancer immunotherapy-focused Pionyr Immunotherapeutics in June and the March acquisition of Forty Seven for $4.9 billion.
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