Gilead to buy Kite for $12bn

Global pharmaceutical giant Gilead Sciences — which has a major presence in Cork — agreed to buy Kite Pharma in a nearly $12bn (€10bn) deal, writes Natalie Grover and Michael Erman.

The deal comes as Gilead, with around 250 people employed in Carrigtwohill in Cork as well as thousands around the world, looks to replace flagging sales from hepatitis C drugs with an emerging and expensive class of cancer immunotherapies that are expected to generate billions of dollars in revenue.

Santa Monica, California-based Kite is developing chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, known as a CAR T, which harnesses the body’s own immune cells to recognize and attack malignant cells.