Celgene signed an agreement on Thursday to acquire US-based biotechnology company Avila Therapeutics for a figure that could potentially rise to $925m.
Avila closed a $30m series B round in July 2009, from participants including Novartis Option Fund, a venture fund operated by pharmaceutical corporation Novartis, as well as investment firm Abingworth, and venture capital firms Advent Venture Partners, Atlas Venture and Polaris Venture Partners.
The latter four firms previously backed an $11.3m series A round for Avila in April 2008.
More recently, Avila received a $4m milestone payment from Clovis Oncology earlier in the month. Avila and Clovis signed a strategic collaboration agreement in May 2010, worth up to $209m if all milestone payments are triggered.
The upfront figure paid by Celgene is $350m in cash. Milestone payments dependent on the development of Avila’s AVL-292 small molecule drug will potentially reach $195m, while milestone payments for additional drug candidates could go up to $380m.
AVL-292 is just one of a series of covalent drug candidates being developed by Avila that it believes can not only inhibit but silence disease proteins by forming a bond that shuts down the protein’s activity. Celgene is expecting Avila’s drug development platform to augment its own range of therapeutic treatments, which are primarily based around cancer and inflammatory diseases.
Tom Daniel, president of research and early development for Celgene, said: "Avila Therapeutics is a remarkable company that is aligned with our commitment to improve the lives of patients worldwide through innovative science and disease-altering therapies. In particular, we see Avila’s unique approach to protein silencing as an area of great promise for our research initiatives in hematology, oncology and immune-inflammatory diseases."