Jounce Therapeutics, Inc. announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s clearance of its Investigational New Drug application for JTX-1811, an anti-CCR8 antibody, for which Gilead Sciences, Inc. has exclusive rights to develop and commercialize. The IND clearance triggers a $25.0 million milestone payment to Jounce. JTX-1811, which will be referred to as GS-1811 in Gilead’s pipeline, is a monoclonal antibody created by Jounce and designed to selectively deplete immunosuppressive tumor-infiltrating T regulatory cells. The target of JTX-1811 is CCR8, a chemokine receptor enriched on TITR cells. When JTX-1811 binds to CCR8, it targets TITR cells for depletion by enhancing an antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity mechanism. Under the terms of the September 2020 agreement, Gilead invested $35.0 million in Jounce’s common stock and made an $85.0 million upfront payment to Jounce. Jounce has led the development of JTX-1811 through IND clearance, after which Gilead now has the sole right to develop and commercialize the program. After receiving this $25.0 million milestone payment, the company may receive up to an additional $660.0 million in future clinical, regulatory and commercial milestone payments and will also be eligible to receive royalties ranging from high single digit to mid-teens based upon worldwide sales.