Biopharmaceutical firm Gilead Sciences agreed to pay $275m for a 49.9% stake in US-based immuno-oncology therapy developer Pionyr Immunotherapies on Tuesday as part of a wider agreement.
The deal gives Gilead the option to fully acquire Pionyr for a further $315m, and the latter’s shareholders could eventually earn a total of $1.47bn in option exercise fees and milestone payments. Gilead can exercise its option at any point up to the completion of phase 1b clinical trials for Pionyr’s two lead assets.
Founded in 2015, Pionyr is working on cancer treatments that are intended to promote anti-tumour immunity in patients who do not benefit from checkpoint inhibitor therapies. Its lead candidates, PY314 and PY159, are aimed at solid tumours and have shown promise in preclinical studies.
The company advances research by by Max Krummel, a professor in the Department of Pathology at University of California, San Francisc and Sachdev Sidhu, a professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics and the Donnelly Center at University of Toronto.
Pionyr plans to file investigational new drug applications for both product candidates in Q3 2020. Gilead has committed to providing an undisclosed amount of additional funding to support the development of PY314 and PY159 as well as additional research and development activities.
The corporate will be able to nominate a representative to Pionyr’s board of directors and will also join its other shareholders to nominate an independent individual to the board.
Pionyr had previously raised at least $80m in financing, most recently securing $7m in March 2018 according to a regulatory filing.
New Enterprise Associates led a $62m series B round for the company in December 2017 that also featured Osage University Partners, Sofinnova Ventures, Vida Ventures, Orbimed, SV Health Investors and Mission Bay Ventures.
Orbimed and SV Life Sciences co-led Pionyr’s $8m series A-1 round in January 2017, with participation from Osage University Partners, Mission Bay and assorted angel investors.
The original version of this article appeared on our sister site, Global Corporate Venturing.
