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. For this
year, Celgene expects net product sales of $9 billion to $9.5
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.
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, looms 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.
In after-hours trading, Celgene shares were up 4.7% to
$128.60.
Celgene also said it is increasing its 2015 guidance for
earnings, excluding items, to the range of $4.75 to $4.85 a share,
from its previous view of $4.60 to $4.75, reflecting strong
preliminary second-quarter results.
Write to Josh Beckerman at josh.beckerman@wsj.com
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