Gilead Sciences has stopped a closely watched trial involving an experimental cancer drug the company acquired three years ago in a roughly $5 billion deal, marking the latest setback in the company’s plans to grow its oncology business.
Biotech startup Pheast Therapeutics is out of stealth taking a tack similar to that of cancer immunotherapy company Forty Seven, also a spinout from the Stanford University lab of Irving Weissman. While both companies get immune cells to eat tumors, Pheast’s technology has the potential to take the approach to a broader range of cancer types including those that have historically resisted immunotherapy.
Gilead’s $4.9 billion bet on Forty Seven has run into a delay. Weeks after Takeda’s rival drug flunked a pivotal trial, Gilead has pushed back the release of data from a phase 1b study designed to support accelerated approval.
The data drop on magrolimab in the blood cancer myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), which was scheduled for this year, is now penciled in (PDF) for the first quarter of 2022. Analysts at Jefferies said the delay is “in part due to GILD still talking to FDA on filing requirements, particularly after Takeda just failed a Phase III in MDS after strong Phase IB CR rates in MDS.”
Biopharma M&A activities suffered a slowdown in 2020. One could argue that 2019’s megadeals consumed some of last year’s quota, and COVID-19 definitely didn’t help. But AstraZeneca’s $39 billion deal for Alexion Pharmaceutical and Gilead’s $21 billion acquisition of Immunomedics showed the appetite for dealmaking is still there.
It might not have been the biggest year for biopharma acquisitions, but despite a global pandemic and rising asset prices 2020 still managed to pull off a respectable transaction haul, with almost $130bn of deals announced.
There had been concerns after a very flat first half that things might not play out so well, but a strong finish to the fourth quarter, thanks to Astrazeneca and Bristol Myers Squibb, ensured that despite its problems 2020 compared favourably to more normal years.
2020’s M&A activity hasn’t quite reached the heights of last year’s, where two pharma mega-mergers – BMS’ buyout of Celegne and AbbVie’s acquisition of Allergan – accounted for almost 40% of total M&A deal values.
The drugmaker said Friday that it would partner with Shanghai-based I-Mab on the development of lemzoparlimab, a drug that targets CD47. The antigen target, also known as the "don't eat me" signal, is a growing area of immunotherapy, as illustrated by Gilead's $4.9 billion buyout of Forty Seven in March.
Just three months after acquiring Forty Seven for $4.9 billion, Gilead has reported positive data on magrolimab, the lead drug from the deal, at ASCO 2020.
Drug makers struck few M&A deals in the first quarter, but activity did not dry up, suggesting that the real impact of coronavirus has yet to play out.
18 key healthcare transactions, most struck before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, have yet to be formally completed.