Celgene, a pharmaceutical company engaged primarily in the discovery, development and commercialisation of therapies for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases, has increased its stake in US-based biopharmaceutical company Acceleron to 15%, according to FierceBiotech.
Celgene bought 1.1 million shares for Acceleron from biopharmaceutical company Alkermes, Flagship Ventures, Polaris Ventures, Venrock Associates, Advanced Technology Ventures, enabling those investors to collectively cash out a $47m stake.
The company bought the shares for a price close to a triple the $15 per share at which Acceleron floated in September 2013, causing a spike in Acceleron’s stock price and driving it to a $1.15bn market cap.
Acceleron is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company which focuses on the discovery, development and commercialisation of novel protein therapeutics for cancer and rare diseases.
Celgene first joined forces with Acceleron in 2008 when they entered into a worldwide strategic collaboration, and they have been deepening that collaboration since. Celgene agreed to pay for all costs on two programmes at the beginning of this year and could potentially pay up to $567m in milestone payments for them.