Jounce Therapeutics Earns Clinical Milestone Payment Under Exclusive License Agreement With Gilead Sciences
Jounce Therapeutics, Inc. recently announced earning a $15-million clinical milestone payment from Gilead Sciences, Inc. under the exclusive license agreement for GS-1811, an anti-CCR8 antibody for which Gilead has exclusive rights to develop and commercialize. GS-1811 (formerly JTX-1811) is designed to selectively deplete immunosuppressive tumor-infiltrating T regulatory (TITR) cells in the tumor microenvironment.
Under the terms of the September 2020 agreement, Gilead invested $35 million in Jounce’s common stock and made an $85-million upfront payment to Jounce. Jounce led the development of JTX-1811 through IND clearance, after which Gilead obtained the sole right to develop and commercialize the program. After receiving this $15-million milestone payment, Jounce may receive up to an additional $645 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. Any milestone or royalty paid to Jounce is subject to certain reductions as described in the license agreement.
Jounce Therapeutics, Inc. is a clinical-stage immunotherapy company dedicated to transforming the treatment of cancer by developing therapies that enable the immune system to attack tumors and may provide long-lasting benefits to patients through a biomarker-driven approach. Jounce currently has multiple development stage programs ongoing while simultaneously advancing additional early-stage assets from its robust discovery engine based on its Translational Science Platform. Jounce’s highest priority program, JTX-8064, is a LILRB2 (ILT4) receptor antagonist shown to reprogram immune-suppressive tumor associated macrophages to an anti-tumor state in preclinical studies. JTX-8064 is currently being investigated alone and in combination with pimivalimab (formerly JTX-4014), Jounce’s internal PD-1 inhibitor, in one monotherapy and seven indication-specific combination therapy cohorts in the Phase 1/2 INNATE trial and is currently enrolling patients with advanced solid tumors in the Phase 2 portion of the study. Jounce’s most advanced product candidate, vopratelimab, is a monoclonal antibody that binds to and activates ICOS, and is currently being studied in the SELECT Phase 2 trial. Pimivalimab is a PD-1 inhibitor intended for combination use in the INNATE and SELECT trials and with Jounce’s broader pipeline. Additionally, Jounce exclusively licensed worldwide rights to GS-1811 (formerly JTX-1811), a monoclonal antibody targeting CCR8 and designed to selectively deplete T regulatory cells in the tumor microenvironment, to Gilead Sciences, Inc. For more information, visit www.jouncetx.com.
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