Gilead Sciences To Buy Kite Pharma For $180/shr - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Gilead Sciences, Inc. (GILD) and Kite Pharma, Inc. (KITE) announced a definitive agreement pursuant to which Gilead will acquire Kite in a transaction, which values Kite at approximately $11.9 billion. Gilead expects the transaction will provide opportunities for diversification of revenues, and to be neutral to earnings by year three and accretive thereafter.

Based in Santa Monica, California, Kite is a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the development of cancer immunotherapies. On March 31, 2017, Kite submitted a Biologics License Application to the FDA for its lead product candidate, axi-cel, as a treatment for patients with relapsed or refractory aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma who are ineligible for autologous stem cell transplant. Kite received priority review on May 29, 2017 with the Prescription Drug User Fee Act action date set for November 29, 2017. A marketing authorization application has also been filed for axi-cel for the treatment of relapsed/refractory DLBCL, TFL and PMBCL with the European Medicines Agency. The company expects approval in Europe in 2018.

"The acquisition of Kite establishes Gilead as a leader in cellular therapy and provides a foundation from which to drive continued innovation for people with advanced cancers," said John Milligan, Gilead's CEO.