US-based drugs group Acceleron Pharma has raised $30m from a consortium including peer Celgene following a partnership between the two companies to develop two drugs to treat a lack of iron in a person’s blood.
John Knopf, chief executive of Acceleron, said: "We’re especially pleased with Celgene’s commitment to Acceleron as we jointly develop several promising products for the treatment of anaemia."
Celgene granted Acceleron an up-front payment of $25m and the opportunity to earn $217m in milestone payments for rights to an Acceleron anaemia compound.
George Golumbeski, senior vice-president of corporate development of Celgene, has joined the Acceleron board.
The rest of the consortium was made up of venture capital firms Advanced Technology Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Flagship Ventures, MPM Capital, OrbiMed Advisors, Polaris Venture Partners, QVT Financial, Sutter Hill Ventures and Venrock Assocaites.