By Chris Wack

 

Jounce Therapeutics Inc. shares were up 13% to $7.88 after the company said the Food and Drug Administration has cleared its investigational new drug application for JTX-1811, an anti-CCR8 antibody, for which Gilead Sciences Inc. has exclusive rights to develop and commercialize.

The IND clearance triggers a $25 million milestone payment to Jounce.

Volume for the stock was 2 million shares at 12:50 p.m. EDT, compared to its 65-day average volume of 332,000 shares. The stock hit its 52-week high of $14.84 on March 11.

Jounce said JTX-1811, which will be referred to as GS-1811 in Gilead's pipeline, is a monoclonal antibody created by Jounce and designed to selectively deplete immunosuppressive tumor-infiltrating T regulatory cells. The target of JTX-1811 is CCR8, a chemokine receptor enriched on TITR cells. When JTX-1811 binds to CCR8, it targets TITR cells for depletion by enhancing an antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity mechanism.

Under the terms of their September 2020 agreement, Gilead invested $35 million in Jounce's common stock and made an $85 million upfront payment to Jounce. Jounce has led the development of JTX-1811 through IND clearance, after which Gilead now has the sole right to develop and commercialize the program.

After receiving the $25 million milestone payment, Jounce may receive up to an additional $660 million in future clinical, regulatory and commercial milestone payments and will also be eligible to receive royalties ranging from high single digit to mid-teens based upon world-wide sales.

 

Write to Chris Wack at chris.wack@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 15, 2021 13:16 ET (17:16 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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