Shares of Forty Seven Inc. were up in premarket trading on rumors that Gilead Sciences has approached the company about a potential partnership or acquisition.
Shares of Forty Seven Inc. are up more than 33% in premarket trading on rumors that Gilead Sciences has approached the company about a potential partnership or acquisition.
Late Thursday, MSN reported that Gilead has been in talks with the company about a potential acquisition, citing unnamed individuals who were familiar with the matter. Those same individuals told the news outlet that Gilead is not the only company that has approached Forty Seven with takeover proposals. The sources also added that no deal has been finalized and nothing could come from any of these talks. Both Gilead and Forty Seven declined to comment, MSN said.
Forty Seven is named after the CD47 tumor cell protein that is seen as a rich target for macrophages to take aim at. In January, the company outlined its strategic priorities for the year. Forty Seven is focused on advancing magrolimab in registration-enabling programs for the treatment of patients with untreated, higher-risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and heavily-pretreated, relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Magrolimab has previously been granted Fast Track designation by the FDA for the treatment of MDS and acute myeloid leukemia (AML), and for the treatment of relapsed or refractory DLBCL and follicular lymphoma, as well as Orphan Drug designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and European Medicines Agency for the treatment of AML. In December, the FDA granted Orphan Drug designation to magrolimab for the treatment of MDS. Also in December, the company announced data from its ongoing trial of magrolimab in combination with azacytidine MDS and AML. As of the cutoff data, in the higher-risk MDS, the ORR was 92% with 50% achieving CR, 33% achieving marrow CR and 2 presenting hematologic improvement. In untreated AML, the ORR was 64%, with nine patients hitting a CR, 3 a CR with complete blood count recovery and one with a morphologic leukemia-free state.
Mark McCamish, president and chief executive officer of Forty Seven, said in 2020, the company is executing its strategy of treating disease by harnessing the potential of the innate immune system in “full force.”
“Our potential-registration enabling programs for magrolimab in MDS and DLBCL are underway, and we are pleased to have recently received FDA Orphan Drug designation for magrolimab in MDS. In parallel, we are preparing to advance FSI-174 and FSI-189 into the clinic, where we believe we can leverage our deep understanding of the CD47/SIRPα pathway to engage previously unexploited phagocytic pathways,” McCamish said in a statement.
As of the end of 2019, the company was well-financed with cash and cash equivalents of $329.1 million. That followed an underwritten public offering the company closed in early December that secured it approximately $195.6 million.
Gilead Sciences has been in the news lately for its efforts to develop a potential therapy for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). The company launched two Phase III trials of its investigational antiviral drug remdesivir in adults diagnosed with COVID-19. Remdesivir was originally developed to treat Ebola but has shown some success in targeting coronaviruses.
In addition to its focus on the coronavirus, weeks ago Gilead backed startup company Kyverna Therapeutics with an investment of $25 million, as well as a drug development partnership worth up to $600 million. Kyverna is looking to develop a new class of therapies for autoimmune diseases.
