Celgene strikes $100 million deal for option to buy cancer drug maker Acetylon
This article was originally published in Scrip
Celgene entered into a drug development collaboration paying $100 million for an option to buy its new partner, closely held Acetylon Pharmaceuticals, which is in the early stages of testing a therapy for multiple myeloma.
The therapy, Acetylon’s lead drug, also is being tested for other cancers.
If Celgene exercises an option to buy, it would pay a minimum of $500 million for the Boston-based startup. If a drug is approved and achieves sales milestones, a deal could be worth up to $1.1 billion, the companies said.
Asked last week if Celgene was interested in buying Onyx Pharmaceuticals, company executives on an analyst call noted recent collaborations they entered as an example of the type of deals the company is interested in pursuing. (Celgene executives declined to address Onyx questions directly.)
“This is the type of collaboration that has been a big part of our business development strategy,” Celgene spokesperson Greg Geissman told Scrip. “As with some of our other recent deals, the Acetylon deal is built around the option for future action.”
In a separate announcement, Array BioPharma and Celgene announced a collaboration to develop drugs for inflammatory conditions. Array will receive an upfront $11 million payment from Celgene, under the agreement. Celgene also will have the option to license clinical development candidates.