After Bristol snub, Gilead pens $120M upfront, $685M in biobucks for early Jounce cancer program

After being bounced by Bristol Myers after its Celgene takeover, Jounce is courting again, this time an early romance with Gilead Sciences.

BMS made the final cut to a longstanding immuno-oncology pact with Jounce back in June, coming as it swung the ax on unwanted projects from its recent Celgene buy.

Jounce is now bouncing back, however with a new deal from Gilead. The biobucks are not as high as the $2.6 billion it originally penned with Celgene, but $685 million is nothing to be sniffed at, and it comes with an $85 million upfront and $35 million equity investment for the biotech.

For its cash, Gilead gets access to the preclinical JTX-1811 program, an asset which works as a monoclonal antibody designed to selectively deplete immunosuppressive tumor-infiltrating T regulatory (TITR) cells.

Its target is CCR8, a chemokine receptor enriched on TITR cells. When JTX-1811 binds to CCR8, it targets TITR cells for depletion by an enhanced antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity mechanism.

The drug is very early stage, with an IND to start human testing not expected to be made until next year. When in the clinic, the drug becomes Gilead’s. It’s an early bet from the Californian pharma, which is getting early doors, and follows on from its recent spate of relatively low-cost, bolt-on type I-O deals, including just in the past few months, Arcus, Tizona and Tango.

“We are very pleased to add, upon closing of the transaction, JTX-1811 to our pipeline of investigational immuno-oncology therapies that have the potential to transform care for patients with cancer,” said William Lee, Ph.D., executive vice president of research at Gilead.

“JTX-1811 is complementary to our other oncology candidates and has the potential to be first in a new class of therapies as a treatment for people with both solid tumors and hematological malignancies.”

This comes after Gilead was hit hard by an FDA rejection for filgotinib in arthritis, severely setting back any potential approval and, according to analysts, more likely to fall back into cancer R&D for future growth.

RELATED: FDA rejects Gilead's would-be blockbuster filgotinib over toxicity concerns

Gilead, originally focused on HIV and hepatitis C, was pretty short on cancer R&D for years until its $12.9 billion of Kite Pharma and its cell therapy work a few years back, and it's since been snapping up smaller cancer outfits to help beef up its wor, with the focus squarely on immuno-oncology.

It has spent billions on filgotinib partner Galapagos, as part of its branching out into deeper research areas, but the recent FDA spurn has put that deal under major pressure, and may indeed see it lean more heavily on its cancer pacts.

“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. We look forward to seeing JTX-1811 progress to the clinic,” added Richard Murray, Ph.D., CEO and president of Jounce.

“Our mission to deliver the right immunotherapy to the right patient population for meaningful and long-lasting benefit remains at the core of our discovery and clinical development work. Our JTX-1811 program is a prime example of these efforts.” 

Jounce’s shares rocketed up 70% Tuesday morning on the news.