Jounce soars 59% after Gilead will acquire remaining rights to cancer immunotherapy
Jounce Therapeutics (JNCE) is receiving $67M from Gilead Sciences (GILD) in exchange for giving up rights to its phase 1 cancer immunotherapy GS-1811 (formerly JTX-1811).
Design Cells Jounce Therapeutics (NASDAQ:JNCE) is receiving $67M from Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) in exchange for giving up rights to its phase 1 cancer immunotherapy GS-1811 (formerly JTX-1811). Jounce is up 59% in after-hours trading. Jounce (JNCE) and Gilead (GILD) had inked a licensing and development agreement in 2020.
The companies have agreed to amend that agreement with Gilead now responsible for further development. Jounce is no longer eligible for any milestone payments or royalties. The original agreement called for milestone payments up to $685M.
So far, Jounce (JNCE) had received from Gilead (GILD) an $85M upfront payment, $40M in milestone payments, and an equity investment of $35M. GS-1811, an anti-CCR8 antibody, is a potentially first-in-class immunotherapy designed to selectively deplete immunosuppressive tumor-infiltrating T regulatory cells in the tumor microenvironment, the companies said.