ACLX Arcellx Inc

By Colin Kellaher

Shares of Arcellx Inc. hit an all-time high on Friday after the clinical-stage biotechnology inked a lucrative agreement with Gilead Sciences Inc. to develop and commercialize its lead product candidate.

Arcellx and Gilead's Kite unit said they would collaborate to advance CART-ddBCMA, an investigational cell-therapy product currently in Phase 2 clinical development, for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, a cancer of the white blood cells.

Arcellx, based in Gaithersburg, Md., will get an upfront cash payment of $225 million from Gilead, along with a $100 million equity investment from the Foster City, Calif., biopharmaceutical company at $28.75 a share, a nearly 33% premium to Thursday's closing price of $21.68.

Arcellx is also eligible to receive up to $3.9 billion in clinical, regulatory and commercial milestone payments.

Shares of Arcellx, which went public in February, were recently changing hands at $27.50, up nearly 27%, after hitting an all-time high of $28.57 early in the session.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 09, 2022 10:42 ET (15:42 GMT)

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