Gilead Strikes $7.8 Billion Deal for Control of Cancer Biotech Arcellx

It’s the business equivalent of Modern Love: They’re going from being just partners to full-on family.

On Monday, pharma giant Gilead announced a $7.8 billion agreement to buy biotech firm Arcellx, in which it already held an 11.5% stake as part of a 2022 effort to co-develop and co-commercialize the cancer treatment anito-cel. According to Reuters, the developing relationship is just the latest example of pharma firms planting the seeds early for future M&A.

Cliffhangers

Gilead executives may well be running the longest countdown clock on earth, with all eyes on the April 1, 2036, patent expiration date for the company’s blockbuster HIV treatment, Biktarvy. While that seems like a long time, a decade can go by in the blink of an eye when the sales bedrock of your company is at stake; last year, Biktarvy generated roughly 50% of Gilead’s $29 billion in total revenue. (Note: Gilead also scored a three-year patent extension for Biktarvy last year, following a settlement with three generic drugmakers.) 

The firm’s strategy isn’t unique: Just look at the industry’s M&A spree since last summer, as competitors face perilous patent cliffs of their own. At Gilead, the heat climbed even higher after some disappointing full-year numbers on its latest earnings call:

• Gilead forecast adjusted earnings of $8.45 to $8.85 a share for 2026, placing analyst expectations of around $8.79 a share at the high end of the range. Full-year revenue guidance of $29.6 billion to $30 billion also came in a bit cool relative to estimates of $29.9 billion.
• Particularly troubling for the company in 2025 were declining sales of its cell therapy drugs. Sales of non-Hodgkin lymphoma-treating Yescarta fell 5% from 2024, while sales of leukemia drug Tecartus slid 15%; sales for the cell therapy unit dropped 7% overall.

Neat-O: That makes acquiring Arcellx all the less surprising. Gilead’s biggest purchase since 2020, if completed, would give the company full rights to anito-cel, the CAR T-cell therapy that the two firms have been co-developing for patients with the blood cancer multiple myeloma. In fact, Chief Medical Officer Dietmar Berger teased the acquisition in the earnings call, promising a treatment breakthrough: “It’s a completely new paradigm to talk about curing myeloma and having the potential for a cure without any major side effects.” To buy itself a chance at said breakthrough, Gilead is paying a premium: The company is shelling out $115 per share for all outstanding stock of Arcellx, or roughly double what shares closed at ahead of the weekend. That’s one way to beat the Monday blues.