By Colin Kellaher


Shares of Assembly Biosciences more than doubled in premarket trading Tuesday after the biotechnology company inked a collaboration deal potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars with Gilead Sciences.

As part of the 12-year agreement, Assembly is receiving an upfront payment of $100 million from Gilead, including $85 million in cash and a $15 million equity investment at $1.16 a share, a 60% premium to Monday's closing price of 72.6 cents.

The initial purchase gives Gilead a 19.9% stake in Assembly, which had a market capitalization of about $37.4 million based on Monday's closing price.

Assembly shares were recently up 130% to $1.67 in premarket trading.


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


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

10-17-23 0829ET