Arcus self-funds with US$250m sale
Once considered a hot M&A target, Arcus Biosciences secured an upsized US$250m late on Thursday from an overnight stock sale that improves its ability to develop drugs on its own.
Following an earlier wall-cross, Leerink Partners and Goldman Sachs priced 13.7m shares at US$18.25, a 9.2% discount to the previous closing price of US$20.11.
The late-stage cancer drug developer has rallied since it raised US$150m from a registered direct offering in February at US$11.
That sale disappointed some investors who viewed Arcus as an attractive M&A target because of its close relationship with Gilead Sciences, causing the shares to bottom out at US$6.87 in April this year.
Gilead is Arcus’s top shareholder with a 29.1% stake, according to LSEG data. The relationship has not advanced beyond that of a collaborative partnership that gives Gilead rights to take over development drugs from Arcus’s pipeline.
Arcus is now making headway with a kidney cancer drug that Gilead rejected. The drug has shown best-in-class potential for patients with renal cell carcinoma, both as a standalone treatment and in combination with other drugs.
The biotech launched a Phase III trial of the kidney drug in September in combination with chemotherapy. Separately, Arcus is enrolling patients for another Phase III trial on the same drug as a standalone treatment option.
The proceeds raised, combined with US$841m of existing cash, are enough to fully fund the kidney cancer drug's development.