Juno Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:JUNO) was in demand in pre-market trade on Monday after Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG) agreed to buy the biotech for about US$9bn in cash.
Celgene already owned just shy of 10% of Juno, and will pay US$87 a share to acquire the rest of the company.
Juno shares jumped 27% to US$86.28 in pre-market trading, just below the offer price, having already soared by 50% on the back of takeover hopes.
Celgene’s stock, on the other hand, dipped 2.5% to US$100.
Access to CAR-T cancer drugs
Celgene is paying handsomely for access to Juno’s pipeline of cutting-edge CAR-T cancer drugs that use the body’s own immune system to fight the disease.
With the patent protection on its blockbuster multiple myeloma drug, Revlimid – which raked in almost US$2.1mln in the third quarter – set to expire by 2020, Celgene will likely have a revenue hole to fill as generics start to eat away at its sales.
An experimental treatment for Crohn’s disease was earmarked to take some of that burden, but it failed in a late-stage trial last October.
Analysts reckon the Juno acquisition, as well as the recent US$7bn takeover of Impact Biomedicines, could help to ease that problem.
Need to fill revenue hole
"The acquisition of Juno builds on our shared vision to discover and develop transformative medicines for patients with incurable blood cancers," said Celgene chief executive Mark Alles.
"Juno's advanced cellular immunotherapy portfolio and research capabilities strengthen Celgene's global leadership in hematology and adds new drivers for growth beyond 2020."