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 shares, which resumed trading
after being halted, were recently up 10.4% after hours to
$228.50.
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 5.4% to
$129.50.
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.
The company said adjusted earnings for the quarter were about
$1.23 a share, compared with 90 cents a share a year earlier. The
adjusted figure includes a gain of six cents a share on the sale of
an equity investment. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters projected
$1.14.
Net product sales in the quarter were about $2.25 billion, up
22% from a year earlier, while total revenue rose about 22% to
around $2.28 billion.
Celgene's now projects 2020 adjusted earnings per share of more
than $13, up from a previous target of $12.50.
Write to Josh Beckerman at josh.beckerman@wsj.com
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