By Josh Beckerman
Celgene Corp. has reached a deal to buy fellow biopharmaceutical
company Receptos Inc. for about $7.2 billion, enhancing its
portfolio of immune-inflammatory disease treatments with the
addition of Ozanimod.
As a result, Celgene is raising its financial targets for 2020,
projecting net product sales of more than $21 billion.
The $232-a-share deal offers a 12% premium to Receptos's Tuesday
closing price of $207.18.
Receptos's Ozanimod is in development for immune indications
including relapsing multiple sclerosis and inflammatory bowel
disease.
"Ozanimod is a potentially transformational oral therapy that
has demonstrated robust clinical activity" in trials, Celgene said
in a statement.
As a result, Celgene is raising its financial targets for 2020,
projecting net product sales of more than $21 billion.
Celgene last month agreed to pay Juno Therapeutics Inc. $1
billion as an initial investment in a 10-year collaboration to
develop treatments that harness the immune system to fight
cancer.
Celgene, based in Summit, N.J., has been on a deal-making spree
in recent years as the threat of generic competition to its biggest
drug by revenue, Revlimid, has loomed larger. Celgene derived
nearly a third of its $7.67 billion in global sales last year from
Revlimid, a blood-cancer treatment whose patents are being
challenged by generic drug makers.
Write to Josh Beckerman at josh.beckerman@wsj.com
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