Gilead and Arcus Announce Amended Collaboration and Equity Investment

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: GILD) and Arcus Biosciences, Inc. (NYSE: RCUS) today announced an amendment to their collaboration agreement and a separate equity investment by Gilead of $320 million in Arcus common stock at $21.00 per share. The equity investment and collaboration amendment enable accelerated growth of the companies’ joint development programs that span multiple indications. Additionally, Johanna Mercier, Chief Commercial Officer at Gilead Sciences, will join the Arcus Board, bringing Gilead’s total director designees to three. The amendment also includes governance enhancements enabling streamlined decision-making and reflecting the continued growth of the collaboration.

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“This amendment allows Gilead to accelerate the domvanalimab program and enables Arcus to focus on progressing multiple pipeline assets, including both Gilead-optioned and non-optioned programs,” said Merdad Parsey, MD, PhD, Chief Medical Officer, Gilead Sciences. “We look forward to strengthening our collaboration as we explore the collective power of our cross-portfolio combinations to help transform how cancer is treated.”

Gilead and Arcus have reprioritized the joint domvanalimab development program to focus on advancing and potentially accelerating the Phase 3 studies STAR-121 (lung cancer) and STAR-221 (gastrointestinal cancer), which are both expected to be fully enrolled by year-end. This prioritization focuses on domvanalimab-containing regimen research in areas where it may have significant impact in combination with chemotherapy and in settings with high unmet need through all-comer study designs. The companies also plan to initiate STAR-131, a new registrational Phase 3 lung cancer study that includes the domvanalimab plus zimberelimab regimen. This prioritization reflects the companies’ continued conviction in the TIGIT pathway and the Fc-silent design of domvanalimab, which has the potential for differentiation in both efficacy and safety.

“Since the inception of our partnership with Gilead in 2020, the companies have moved increasingly closer in all aspects of our research and development efforts,” said Terry Rosen, PhD, Chief Executive Officer, Arcus. “This investment and prioritization enable both companies to leverage their respective strengths and focus on efficiently advancing novel combinations that have the potential to change the landscape of cancer treatment. The additional investment by Gilead, which extends our cash runway into 2027, will enable us to fund our Phase 3 studies of quemliclustat in pancreatic cancer and AB521 in kidney cancer, as well as to begin preparation for our first potential product approvals.”