By Colin Kellaher


Arcellx Inc. and Gilead Sciences Inc. on Friday said they agreed to co-develop and co-commercialize Arcellx's lead late-stage product candidate for the incurable blood cancer multiple myeloma in a collaboration potentially worth billions of dollars to Arcellx.

The companies said Arcellx, a Gaithersburg, Md., clinical-stage biotechnology company, would receive an upfront cash payment of $225 million and a $100 million equity investment from Foster City, Calif., biopharmaceutical company Gilead, along with up to $3.9 billion in total contingent consideration.

Arcellx and Gilead said they share development, clinical-trial and commercialization costs for the drug candidate, CART-ddBCMA, for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.

The companies said they plan to jointly commercialize and split U.S. profits 50/50, while Gilead would commercialize the product outside the U.S., with Arcellx receiving royalties on sales.

Trading in shares of Arcellx, which closed Thursday at $21.68, was halted premarket on Friday.


Write to Colin Kellaher at colin.kellaher@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

12-09-22 0848ET