Incyte to spend as much as $483 million for cancer drug candidate

The USA’s Incyte (Nasdaq: INCY) has signed a deal which could cost it up to $483 million to gain worldwide rights to an investigational cancer therapy, adding to what could be a $2.8 billion deal signed in December with Netherlands-based biotech firm Merus (Nasdaq: MRUS) for immuno-oncology discovery programs.

It has entered into a global collaboration and license agreement for the research, development and commercialization of Calithera Biosciences’ (Nasdaq: CALA) first-in-class, small molecule arginase inhibitor CB-1158 in hematology and oncology. CB-1158 is currently being studied in a monotherapy dose escalation trial and additional studies are expected to evaluate CB-1158 in combination with immuno-oncology agents, including anti-PD-1 therapy.

Shares of Calithera were last seen up about 34% at $6.15, with a consensus analyst price target of $9.25 and a 52-week trading range of $2.20 to $6.87, according to Chris Lange on 24/7 Wall St. Incyte shares were trading down 2% at $119.18. The consensus price target is $127.21, and the 52-week range is $55.00 to $124.87.