Gilead Sciences announced on October 22 that it will acquire the oral interleukin-23 receptor (IL-23R) inhibitor program of Shanghai-based PepStar Therapeutics for $1.275 billion in upfront cash, payable at closing, with no milestone structure disclosed. The program’s lead asset, HCXT-2001, is an investigational macrocyclic peptide in Phase 1 clinical development. Gilead takes worldwide rights, and the companies expect the transaction to close in the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to customary closing conditions. Lazard advised Gilead and Centerview Partners advised PepStar.
IL-23R is a clinically validated target in immune-mediated inflammatory disease. Gilead named inflammatory bowel disease, including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, as the lead development area, with psoriasis as a further potential application. Chief Medical Officer Dietmar Berger said HCXT-2001 could work as a daily oral treatment alone or in combination, including with emvistegrast, Gilead’s oral bowel disease candidate. PepStar founder and chief executive Haibing Guo said the transaction, reached three years after the company’s founding, validates its proprietary oral peptide platform.
The structure is the story. Licensing deals in this space usually advertise a large headline value built mostly from milestones that may never be paid; here the entire disclosed consideration is upfront cash for an asset that has completed no controlled efficacy study. Gilead expects the acquisition to reduce its GAAP and non-GAAP earnings per share by approximately $0.79 to $0.83 in the fourth quarter of 2026, the accounting cost of buying development-stage research. The payment follows positive interim results for emvistegrast and continues Gilead’s build-out of an inflammation portfolio beyond its HIV core.
The deal also sits directly in the path of this week’s policy news. On October 22 Treasury issued its proposed outbound investment rule adding biotechnology to the covered sectors (see the October 22 Treasury story, updated in place). A US buyer paying $1.275 billion upfront for a Shanghai-originated program is exactly the kind of China-linked biotech transaction whose treatment under the final rule the industry is now reading for.