Morningstar

Gilead Acquires Oral IL-23R Inhibitor Program for $1.275 Billion in Cash

Provided by Dow Jones Oct 22, 2026, 9:05:00 PM

By Elias Schisgall

Gilead Sciences agreed to acquire an oral IL-23R inhibitor program from privately held PepStar Therapeutics for $1.275 billion in cash.

The deal gives Gilead worldwide rights to the program, including its lead asset known as HCXT-2001. Gilead plans to develop the asset, alone or in combination with the company's other drugs, as a possible treatment for inflammatory bowel disease.

The acquisition, set to close in the fourth quarter, is expected to reduce Gilead's fourth-quarter earnings-per-share by between 79 cents and 83 cents, the company said.

"HCXT-2001 adds a potentially differentiated oral approach to our growing inflammation pipeline, reflecting our commitment to addressing significant unmet patient needs," Chief Medical Officer Dietmar Berger said.

Write to Elias Schisgall at elias.schisgall@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 22, 2026 17:05 ET (21:05 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

The articles, information, and content displayed on this webpage may include materials prepared and provided by third parties. Such third-party content is offered for informational purposes only and is not endorsed, reviewed, or verified by Morningstar.

Morningstar makes no representations or warranties regarding the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, or reliability of any third-party content displayed on this site. The views and opinions expressed in third-party content are those of the respective authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Morningstar, its affiliates, or employees.

Morningstar is not responsible for any errors, omissions, or delays in this content, nor for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Users are advised to exercise their own judgment and seek independent financial advice before making any decisions based on such content. The third-party providers of this content are not affiliated with Morningstar, and their inclusion on this site does not imply any form of partnership, agency, or endorsement.

Popular

4 Stocks to Buy for the Long-Term While They’re Still Undervalued

Plus, a deep dive on SpaceX’s bid to challenge US telecoms.

David Sekera, CFA and Sarah Hansen Oct 19, 2026

6 ETFs To Diversify Away From AI

A difficult problem has an easy solution.

Daniel Sotiroff Oct 19, 2026

Why This Vanguard ETF Is One of the Best

Vanguard Total International Stock is appealing for several reasons.

Zachary Evens Oct 21, 2026

The Best AI Stocks to Buy Now

Artificial intelligence stocks continue to attract investors, thanks to industry momentum and appealing valuations.

Tori Brovet Oct 20, 2026

3 New 5-Star Stocks This Week

PayPay and CRISPR are now seen as significantly undervalued.

Bella Albrecht Oct 19, 2026

Sponsor Center

Transparency is our policy. Learn how it impacts everything we do

Transparency is how we protect the integrity of our work and keep empowering investors to achieve their goals and dreams. And we have unwavering standards for how we keep that integrity intact, from our research and data to our policies on content and your personal data.

We’d like to share more about how we work and what drives our day-to-day business.

How we make money

We sell different types of products and services to both investment professionals and individual investors. These products and services are usually sold through license agreements or subscriptions. Our investment management business generates asset-based fees, which are calculated as a percentage of assets under management. We also sell both admissions and sponsorship packages for our investment conferences and advertising on our websites and newsletters.

How we use your personal data

How we use your information depends on the product and service that you use and your relationship with us. We may use it to:

Verify your identity, personalize the content you receive, or create and administer your account.
Provide specific products and services to you, such as portfolio management or data aggregation.
Develop and improve features of our offerings.
Gear advertisements and other marketing efforts towards your interests.

To learn more about how we handle and protect your data, visit our privacy center.

How we approach editorial content

Maintaining independence and editorial freedom is essential to our mission of empowering investor success. We provide a platform for our authors to report on investments fairly, accurately, and from the investor’s point of view. We also respect individual opinions––they represent the unvarnished thinking of our people and exacting analysis of our research processes. Our authors can publish views that we may or may not agree with, but they show their work, distinguish facts from opinions, and make sure their analysis is clear and in no way misleading or deceptive.

To further protect the integrity of our editorial content, we keep a strict separation between our sales teams and authors to remove any pressure or influence on our analyses and research.

Read our editorial policy to learn more about our process.

© Copyright 2026 Morningstar, Inc. All rights reserved. Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, Nasdaq, and Morningstar Index (Market Barometer) quotes are real-time.