Archive for the ‘Celgene’ Category

Apr
25

Epizyme builds epigenetics lineup with $90M Celgene score

Posted under Blog, Celgene, Companies, Diagnostics, epigenetics, Epizyme, Funding, M&A, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, Pharmaceuticals, Startups, Universities, Videos by john

Epizyme has scored its richest pact yet, raking in $90 million in an upfront fee and equity payment from Celgene ($CELG) in return for an option to partner on the technology while gaining ex-U.S. rights to one of its key programs for genetically defined cancers. The pact includes a commitment to pay tens of millions more in milestones for any successful therapies that come out of the deal.

The partnership gives Celgene dibs on histone methyltransferases (HMT) inhibitors for a period of three years, with an option to extend that by a year. At the heart of the deal is DOT1L, a preclinical program that could play a role in a subtype of acute leukemias called mixed lineage leukemia (MLL). Epizyme will get a shot at up to $160 million in milestones--as well as double-digit royalties--on each program that pushes through the clinic.

Epizyme, a 2011 Fierce 15 company, has been making a reputation for itself in the hot epigenetics arena. Its technology promises to find small molecules that will bind to and control specific enzymes, helping orchestrate activity of a range of genes and proteins. Early in 2011 Epizyme made a name for itself with back-to-back development pacts with GlaxoSmithKline ($GSK) and Eisai. And business development chief Jason Rhodes says this third commercial pact--Epizyme also has deals in place with two disease groups--was carefully tailored to provide the biotech with a fresh and substantial injection of cash while leaving it with U.S. rights and a joint governance approach to the partnership.

Epizyme's goal, says Rhodes, is to "build a new biopharma company and commercialize in the U.S. ourselves." And this new deal was designed to further those goals, bringing its total funds raised so far to $189 million, most of it in cash waiting to fund multiple programs. The new money will help finance the biotech's continuing growth. Rhodes says the fulltime staff has reached the mid-40s range, with around 90 contributing support work in facilities around the globe as part of its semi-virtual approach to development.

There's still no specific timeline available on when Epizyme plans to get its first program into the clinic. But they've set up one of the best collections of preclinical deals in the business.

- here's the press release

Special Report: Epizyme - 2011 Fierce 15

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Jan
26

UPDATED: Celgene snaps up Avila Therapeutics in $925M buyout

Posted under Avila Therapeutics, AVL-292, Blog, Celgene, Clovis Oncology, Companies, Diagnostics, Funding, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, Pharmaceuticals, Startups, Universities, Videos by John Carroll

In less than five years Avila Therapeutics nailed down a reputation as an exciting developer of covalent drugs, with a lead Btk inhibitor for cancer garnering attention at a very early stage of development. Today it turned that excitement into a $925 million buyout deal with Celgene ($CELG), with $350 million of that coming in cash.

The jewel in Avila's crown is AVL-292, a Btk inhibitor now in Phase I. The dealmakers involved in the buyout snagged a $195 million commitment for milestones leading up to a potential approval for that program. And Celgene will add the Avilomics platform to its R&D division, with another $380 million in back-end payments for the progress of other drug candidates that spring off the platform.

The Bedford, MA-based biotech was named a Fierce 15 company back in 2010, not long after the company garnered its last venture round of $30 million. Avila has been recognized for its novel approach to protein silencing, with much of the attention centered on its lead therapy for B cell cancers. The developer also has two candidates for hepatitis C--AVL-181 and AVL-192 targeting the NS3 protein--believing that its ability to create better bonds can deliver a best-in-class drug for one of the world's hottest disease categories.

Avila--which was co-founded by Juswinder Singh, who earlier led the computational chemistry efforts at Biogen Idec ($BIIB)--has development deals in place with Clovis as well as the Novartis Option Fund. The fund led the last round, with help from Abingworth, Advent Venture Partners, Atlas Venture and Polaris, which are all counting their returns this morning. Katrine Bosley, the CEO, gets much of the credit for building the value of the company.

Atlas Venture's Bruce Booth heralded the deal in a blog post this morning, noting that Avila raised a total of $51 million over five years, giving investors a 5x return in a timely fashion, with a potential 15x on the backside. By anyone's calculations, that's a coup.

In baseball parlance, the deal was a "grand slam," says Mike Bigham, the founding CEO and partner at Abingworth, where Avila was initially incubated. For Bigham, whose firm also invested in Micromet and scored a payout late last year with Takeda's buyout of Intellikine, the deals help underscore that "M&A has increasingly become the preferred exit pathway for young companies."

Avila was Bigham's third startup, after Gilead and Coulter. And each provided a compelling story on their technological approach to drug development while fielding a strong team of senior executives early on. "I'm a big believer in hiring talented senior people early in a company," says Bigham. "It's a way of turnocharging a company early on."

"Celgene and Avila are uniquely matched, both strategically and scientifically," said Bosley. "Celgene's global leadership in hematology and emerging franchise in immune-inflammatory diseases will accelerate and expand the clinical development of our Btk inhibitor program. Equally important, we value the high standards of creativity and rigor of Celgene's scientists. We believe working together may accelerate the advancement of more innovative medicines from the Avilomics platform."

- here's the press release

Special Report: Celgene - Biotech's Biggest Spenders 2011

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Jan
06

Amgen, big biotechs poised for big year of deals, analysts say

Posted under Amgen, Blog, Cancer Drugs, Celgene, Companies, Diagnostics, Funding, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, Mergers and Acquisitions, Pharmaceuticals, Startups, Universities, Videos by Ryan McBride

It's always a safe bet that biotech's biggest players will be actively seeking mergers and other deals in any given year. Yet analysts tell Bloomberg that 2012 might be one in which heavy hitters like Amgen ($AMGN) and Celgene ($CELG) take their deal-making games to another level to boost growth. Next week's must-attend J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco offers an enticing venue for biotechs to target potential deals in 2012, and Gilead Sciences' ($GILD) nearly $11 billion buyout of clinical-stage drug developer Pharmasset ($VRUS) announced in late November has been an upbeat omen for deals to come this year.

At Amgen, the world's largest biotech, there are a number of factors that could push the company to pull the trigger on acquisitions this year. For starters, the Thousand Oaks, CA-based company has struggled to impress investors over the past 5 years, during which time its stock fell 6% while the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index rose 36%, Bloomberg reported. Amgen has also avoided big mergers during this stretch of stagnant growth, buying companies that cost less than $1 billion, and large biotechs could be in the market this year for buyouts in the $3 billion to $10 billion price range, Henry Gosebruch, managing director of healthcare M&As at J.P. Morgan, told the news service.

Amgen, of course, is also making a major leadership change this year, when CEO Kevin Sharer hands over the top job at the company to the company's chief operating officer, Robert Bradway. Investors will likely look to Bradway to turn the ship toward strong growth. And he'll have Amgen's war chest of cash at his disposal to make deals happen.

"Amgen needs to go on an aggressive business development spree to in-license and partner high-impact new drugs in Phase 2 so they can have Phase 3 read-outs over the next three to five years," RBC Capital Markets analyst Michael Yee told Bloomberg, noting that the company had $17.7 billion in cash and short-term investments as of Sept. 30, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Celgene has also trailed the biotech stock index in recent years, and the company has taken what could be called a conservative approach on buyouts, given that, as Bloomberg reports, the drugmaker has completed 8 equity or partnership deals over the past 5 years. Still, many biotechs—especially those working in Celgene's key areas of hematology and oncology—will likely want to get into talks with the drugmaker, which has a track record of seeking deals for assets in late-stage development as well as early-stage deals with companies such as Agios Pharmaceuticals.

- get more in the Bloomberg article

Special Report: Celgene - Biotech's Biggest Spenders 2011

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Nov
23

Celgene halts Revlimid prostate cancer PhIII as survival trend falls short

Posted under Blog, Celgene, Companies, Diagnostics, Funding, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, Pharmaceuticals, Prostate Cancer, Revlimid, Startups, Universities, Videos by John Carroll

Celgene's development plan for Revlimid has run into a brick wall of bad data. The biotech ($CELG) halted a late-stage study of the blockbuster drug for castration-resistant prostate cancer after an independent group of trial overseers came to the conclusion that a combo of Revlimid with the standard therapy would not demonstrate an improvement in overall survival--the gold standard for cancer drugs.

Revlimid earned $2.47 billion last year, largely for multiple myeloma, and Celgene had been hoping to add prostate cancer to the list of diseases that it could be used for. The Mainsail study had combined Revlimid with the chemotherapy drug docetaxel and the steroid prednisone, comparing the data with a separate arm receiving the docetaxel/prednisone combination.

"We have accepted this recommendation of the DMC and following formal notification and review of the analysis, physicians and patients, internationally, will be officially advised of this action," Celgene noted in a release.

While certainly disappointing for Celgene, which saw a big upside on the prostate cancer side even as new therapies have come into the marketplace, analysts expect to see Revlimid continue to rake in growing sums in coming years. Celgene also has a number of cancer trials under way for its recently acquired Abraxane. The developer also has a slate of stem cell studies under way with an eye to nailing its first approval around 2015.

- read the press release
- here's the Reuters story

Special Report: Celgene - Biotech's Biggest Spenders 2011

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Archive for the ‘Celgene’ Category

Epizyme builds epigenetics lineup with $90M Celgene score

UPDATED: Celgene snaps up Avila Therapeutics in $925M buyout

Amgen, big biotechs poised for big year of deals, analysts say

Celgene halts Revlimid prostate cancer PhIII as survival trend falls short