JULY 17TH, 2015
ummit, New Jersey based Celgene Corporation and Receptos, Inc. of San Diego, California, a biopharmaceutical company developing therapeutic candidates for the treatment of immune and metabolic diseases, have announced their joint signing of a definitive agreement in which Celgene will acquire Receptos. Under terms of the merger agreement, Celgene will pay $232.00 per Receptos share in cash, or a total of approximately $7.2 billion, net of cash acquired.
The Receptos acquisition will significantly enhance Celgene’s portfolio of Inflammation & Immunology (I&I) disease treatments, thereby further diversifying the Company’s revenue sources beginning in 2019 and going forward. The transaction adds Receptos drug Ozanimod (formerly RPC1063), which adds to Celgene’s deep and diverse pipeline of potential disease-altering medicines and investigational compounds, and the company’s growing expertise in treatments for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
IBD is comprised a disease classification that includes two chronic, autoimmune, gastrointestinal (GI) inflammatory disorders; Ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD). UC is an inflammatory disorder involving ulcers in the colon and is characterized by a chronic course of remissions and exacerbations. Patients suffer from a multitude of GI symptoms, including diarrhea, rectal bleeding and abdominal pain. Lymphocyte trafficking agents such as Tysabri and Entyvio, both injectable or infused therapies, have recently demonstrated proof-of-concept in IBD indications.
Ozanimod is a novel, potential best-in-class, oral, once-daily, selective sphingosine 1-phosphate 1 and 5 receptor modulator (S1P) in development for immunology indications including relapsing multiple sclerosis (RMS) and ulcerative colitis (UC). In a Phase 2 trial in patients with RMS, ozanimod achieved the primary endpoint of reduction in MRI brain lesion activity as well as secondary endpoints measuring effects on other MRI parameters.
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