Juno Therapeutics Inc. Signs $1 Billion Development Pact With Celgene Corporation

Juno Therapeutics Inc

soared on news that it signed a 10-year drug development pact with Celgene Corporation

after the bell Monday. http://ir.junotherapeutics.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=253828&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2063406 Under the agreement, Celgene will make an initial $1 billion payment to Juno in the form of $150 million in cash and the acquisition of 9.1 million Juno shares at $93 a piece. Juno changed hands recently at $64.10, up $17.80, and has about 795 million shares outstanding. Celgene also obtained the right to acquire up to a 30 percent stake in Juno during the 10-year agreement and will nominate a member to Juno's board. Celgene gained an option in the deal to commercialize Juno programs outside North America while Juno said it will gain an option to co-develop and co-promote certain Celgene programs. The deal concerns potential cancer and autoimmune disease treatments, with an initial focus on chimeric antigen receptor technology or Car-T, as well as T-cell receptor technologies. Juno Chief Executive Hans E. Bishop called Celgene an ideal partner to "help us realize the full potential of our research while maintaining the independence we believe is so critical for true innovation." Celgene has a market cap of $93.5 billion versus Juno's $4.14 billion. Separately, Juno said it obtained approval to launch a Phase I trial of its non-Hodgkin lymphoma treatment. http://ir.junotherapeutics.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=253828&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2063186