In a $12 billion acquisition announced Monday morning, Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ:$GILD) has expressed intent in purchasing Kite Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:$KITE), making an attempt to rejuvenate its revenue stream. The move was made to support lagging sales from the company’s hepatitis C drug range with a newer, more profitable class of cancer immunotherapies that are expected to generate billions in top-line growth.

Based out of Santa Monica, California, Kite is developing technology that harnesses the body’s own immune system, tuning the cells to identify and decimate any tumor forming cells. Such technology is known as chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, or in short, CAR T.

The $12 billion deal represents a 29.4% premium over Kite’s closing price on Friday, with Gilead purchasing Kite shares at a per share value of $180 a share. Gilead shares are up 2.8 percent during the same time, sitting at $75.86.

“It really became clear that it was going to work and it was going to work in more than one kind of tumor… And then, importantly, that the manufacturing on an industrial scale could work,” John Milligan, Chief Executive of Gilead explained in a conference call. “Now is the right time to get involved in this kind of therapy.”

In the past, Gilead’s growth and revenue prominence has been attributed to the success of their hepatitis C drugs. However, with a lagging project pipeline, the biotech company now sees declining sales figures.

The company’s sales of its hepatitis C drugs Sovaldi, Harvoni and Epclusa totaled $2.9 billion in the second-quarter, down $1.1 billion from the $4 billion sales performance in the previous year.

Competing with Novartis AG (VTX:$NOVN), Juno Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:$JUNO), and Blue Bird Bio Inc (NASDAQ:$BLUE), Kite is one of the leaders in the CAR T field looking to be the first to have their therapy approved.

With the deal spurring optimism, shares of Juno and Bluebird rose 15 and 10 percent respectively on Monday morning, with hopes that other acquisitions will happen.

Success of these drugs would mean a great medical advancement in research for cancer-fighting treatments. It would also provide the company with a unique and lucrative return, with costs up to $500,000 but revenue projections in the billions.

Kite is currently waiting for a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decision on its CAR T, axil-cel treatment for adults with advanced lymphoma with an expected decision by Nov. 29th.

This acquisition didn’t come as a surprise, as Wall Street analysts and Shareholders of Gilead have watched the company ramp up its cash position over the years. With the deal expecting to close in the fourth quarter, Gilead is hoping for the investment to replicate the results of their acquisition of Pharmasset in 2011

This was the deal that allowed Gilead, the world’s largest HIV drug maker to reap the profits of hepatitis C treatments. With total revenues of $30 billion last year, hepatitis C treatments accounted for just under half of Gilead’s total revenue for last year.

That deal allowed Gilead, then the world’s largest maker of HIV drugs, to move into hepatitis C treatments. Last year, just under half of Gilead’s $30 billion in sales came from hepatitis C treatments.

In order to achieve such profits, the company faced media ramifications for the absurdly high cost of the treatments. The price for Kite’s CAR T treatment isn’t likely to appease many either.

“There will be headlines, just because the price itself is so high,” CEO of Loncar Investments, Brad Loncar, who also runs the Cancer Immunotherapy ETF for Loncar explained. “But unlike hepatitis C, they are treating patients that only have weeks or months to live and providing durable remissions.”

Financially, Gilead is advised by BofA Merrill Lynch and Lazard, while Kite has been advised by Centerview Partners. Skadden and Sullivan & Cromwell will be legal advisors in the deal,with Gilead and Kite as their respective clients.

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