Celegene and Juno have signed a 10-year, $1-billion pact focussing on the development of commercialisation of new immunotherapies to treat cancer and autoimmune disease.
The companies said their work will leverage T cell therapeutic strategies, with an initial focus on Chimeric Antigen Receptor Technology (CAR-T) and T Cell Receptor (TCR) technologies.
As per the terms of the deal, Celgene can choose to co-commercialise Juno’s oncology and cell therapy auto-immune product candidates, including Juno’s CD19 and CD22 directed CAR-T product candidates.
For Juno-originated programs co-developed under the alliance, the Seattle-based biotech is responsible for R&D in North America and will retain commercialisation rights in those territories. Celgene takes the reigns on development and commercialisation in the rest of the world, and will pay Juno a royalty on sales.
Juno also holds an option on co-development and co-commercialisation for certain Celgene development candidates that target T Cells. If it is pushes ahead with this, the parties will share global costs and profits with 70% allocated to Celgene and 30% allocated to Juno.
Celgene is shelling out around $1 billion to seal the deal, including the purchase of 9.1 million shares of Juno stock at $93.00 per share, with potential to increase its stake over time.
The transaction, which has been cleared by both sets of directors, is expected to close in the third quarter.
