Stock Alert: Trillium Therapeutics Gains 28% After Gilead Acquires Forty Seven

(RTTNews) - Shares of Trillium Therapeutics (TRIL) is currently up nearly 28% on Monday morning after Gilead Sciences (GILD) agreed to buy rival cancer drug maker Forty Seven (FTSV) in an all-cash buyout deal worth $4.9 billion. Last week, reports suggested Gilead had approached Forty Seven, a biotech firm that specializes in cancer immunotherapy, for discussing a number of options, including a partnership. Forty Seven is a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company focused on developing novel therapies to activate macrophages in the fight against cancer. Forty Seven's lead drug candidate is magrolimab for the treatment of patients with acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome. The drug had received fast track designation from FDA in September last year. Magrolimab is a first-in-class monoclonal antibody that targets CD47 and is designed to block the "don't eat me" signal from the SIRPa receptor on macrophages and induce tumor cell phagocytosis. Trillium is also developing two similar CD47-based therapies, TTI-621 and TTI-622, for blood cancers and disorders. Gilead will pay Forty Seven shareholders $95.50 a share in an all-cash deal, which will give the company access to the company's lead product, magrolimab. The deal, which is expected to close in the second quarter of 2020, indicates a more than 60 per cent premium on Forty Seven's closing share price on Friday.

TRIL is currently trading at $6.51, $4.80 up 28.92%, on the Nasdaq.