Gilead Sciences will pay $ 300 million for almost half of Tizona, has the option to buy the rest for $ 1.25 billion

Gilead Sciences Inc. GILD,
-1.29%
announced Tuesday an agreement to purchase a 49.9% stake in private cancer treatment developer Tizona Therapeutics Inc. for $ 300 million. Gilead also received the option to purchase the rest of Tizona for up to an additional $ 1.25 billion, including possible future milestone payments. The option to purchase the remainder of Tizona may be exercised before or after reading a Phase 1b study of the Tizona research TTX-080 to treat tumors. The Food and Drug Administration approved the TTX-080 drug investigation request, and Tizona plans to start a Phase 1 trial in the third quarter. “Tizona is looking for first-class cancer immunotherapies that could make a significant difference in oncology by helping patients who are not responding to current checkpoint inhibitors,” said Gilead Chief Executive Daniel O’Day. Gilead’s shares, which fell 0.4% in pre-trade, have recovered 20.2% from year-to-date through Monday, while the ETF IBS iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology,
-1.69%
it’s up 21.0% and the S&P 500 SPX,
+ 0.65%
It is up 0.7%.