Juno Therapeutics CEO Weighs In On Celgene Partnership, T-Cell Innovations

Celgene Corporation CELG and Juno Therapeutics Inc JUNO recently announced a 10-year collaborative partnership to develop T-cell immunotherapies, under which the former will be buying $1 billion stake in the latter at $93 per share.

Hans Bishop, Juno Therapeutics CEO, was on CNBC Tuesday to discuss this deal.

Transformative Deal

"The money is important, but they (Celgene) are also a spectacular scientific partner," Bishop began. "They are a very respected global oncology company with deep roots in hematology, which is where our early pipeline is mainly focused. So, we think that this deal is transformative for us."

Related Link: Kite Pharma CEO: "We Are Offering The Next Generation Immunotherapy"

Celgene Understands Basic Science

Bishop was asked if he thinks Celgene is the leading company on basic science for immunotherapy and if that's why it is partnering with Juno. He replied, "Well, I actually think they are a great science company. I mean, if you are going to be as successful as they are developing drugs and actually buying assets, you have to understand the basic science.

"Now, I do think that we really enrich their scientific credentials. Certainly, our company is deeply focused on T-Cell biology and how you use T-cells to fight cancer, and that's something that our company, we think, is very good at."

T-Cell Therapy

Bishop explained the T-cell therapy being developed by the company, saying, "Cancer hides from our immune system in a number of different ways, and what we do is take immune cells from a patient – T-cell in particular. We take them out. We put into the cell a new gene, which allows them to find the cancer and kill it."