Gilead Sciences (GILD) has agreed to sell Kite’s Neoantigen TCR Cell Therapy R&D platform and manufacturing plant to BioNTech (BNTX).
Kite is a Gilead subsidiary focused on cell therapy for cancer treatment. The subsidiary plans to sell its research platform for solid tumor neoantigen T cell receptor (TCR) to BioNTech. Additionally, BioNTech has agreed to purchase Kite’s clinical manufacturing facility in Gaithersburg, Maryland, together with all its staff.
“The acquisition of the Kite facility and its individualized TCR platform allows us to accelerate the clinical development of our cell therapies in the U.S. and advance at the forefront of individualized cell therapies,” said BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin.
“This transaction will enable us to focus our energies and investment on accelerating the reach of our current CAR T-cell therapies and midterm pipeline,” commented Kite CEO Christi Shaw.
Kite expects to receive an undisclosed, one-time, upfront payment from the deal with BioNTech. The transaction is expected to close by the end of this month. (See Gilead stock charts on TipRanks).
RBC Capital analyst Brian Abrahams recently reiterated a Buy rating on GILD stock with a price target of $81. This implies 18.7% upside potential from current levels.
Consensus among analysts is a Moderate Buy based on 6 Buys and 5 Holds. The average Gilead price target of $79.67 implies 16.77% upside potential to current levels.
According to TipRanks’ Hedge Fund Trading Activity tool, confidence in GILD is currently Very Positive. The cumulative change in holdings across all 18 funds that were active in the last quarter was an increase of 1.9 million shares.
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