Gilead agreed to acquire PepStar Therapeutics’ oral IL-23R inhibitor program led by HCXT-2001, paying $1.275 billion upfront for worldwide rights. The asset is an oral macrocyclic peptide inhibitor of IL-23R currently in Phase I trials. Gilead framed HCXT-2001 as a differentiated oral approach to inhibit the IL-23 pathway in immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease, with potential downstream interest in psoriasis as well. The acquisition is positioned as a modality and route-of-administration expansion for Gilead’s inflammation and immunology pipeline. Gilead said the transaction would reduce its GAAP and non-GAAP EPS by about $0.79 to $0.83 in the fourth quarter. For PepStar, the deal marks a rapid move from early clinical development to a scaled global partner, with Gilead bringing development and commercialization capacity to progress an oral IL-23R program that could compete in an increasingly crowded inflammation market.