Inside Gilead's $21 billion acquisition

Gilead’s $21 billion decision to buy Immunomedics was partly forged al fresco, over steaks and lamb chops in a socially distanced New Jersey restaurant: In spite of the pandemic, Gilead CEO Daniel O’Day met with Immunomedics Executive Chairman Behzad Aghazadeh twice in person this year to iron out details of the buyout.

Gilead’s decision to grow its cancer franchise made Immunomedics’ particularly lucrative: Its breast cancer drug Trodelvy, approved in April, showed substantial tumor shrinkage in a third of patients who had failed other types of treatment.

“It’s a transformational acquisition for Gilead because it gives us a foundational asset in solid tumor oncology, one that is pan-tumor,” Gilead CEO Daniel O’Day told STAT.

For Immunomedics, meantime, the deal caps a remarkable turnaround story.