Founded by Israeli, US cancer treatment company sells for $11.9 billion

Gilead Sciences will pay $11.9 billion in cash to buy Kite Pharma, founded by Israeli-American oncologist Arie Belldegrun, and plant a stake in an emerging area of cancer treatments that train a patient’s immune cells to attack tumors.

Kite’s portfolio of potential treatments includes one for the blood cancer lymphoma that could receive US regulatory approval later this year.

The Santa Monica, California-based company specializes in developing treatments that are custom-made to target a patient’s cancer. Called CAR-T, this type of therapy involves removing immune cells from a patients’ blood, reprogramming them to create an army of cells that can zero in on and destroy cancer cells and injecting them back into the patient.

Gilead has developed top-selling treatments for HIV and the liver-destroying hepatitis C virus, but leaders of the biotechnology company told analysts Monday that its push into oncology has been largely nascent so far. They said that the Kite deal helps establish Gilead as a leader in so-called cellular therapy and provides an opportunity to diversify revenue.

“(Kite’s) work has opened a clear path towards the potential cure for lymphoma patients who’ve run out of options and are desperately in need of treatment,” Gilead president and CEO John Milligan says.

— AP, Times of Israel staff