Celgene pays $1 billion for stake in Juno cancer research

Celgene Corp. will pay Juno Therapeutics Inc. about $1 billion as part of a 10-year partnership to study cures for cancer and autoimmune diseases, the largest payment in a biotechnology licensing agreement ever.

The payment surpasses the previous record, when Pfizer Inc. agreed to give Merck KGaA $850 million in a cancer drugs deal announced last year.

Celgene is betting on an approach to cancer treatment that uses modified versions of immune cells to target malignancies, a process known as CAR-T.

“We like that Celgene is making a big commitment to CAR-T as we think this will be an important hematological platform in the future — but certainly would agree with the likely pending consensus view that the price tag is also big,” said Michael Yee, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets.

The partnership with Juno will probably yield approved treatments by 2020, Celgene Chief Executive Officer Bob Hugin said on a call with investors.

Juno will be responsible for research and development in North America and will keep commercial rights there, while Celgene will be responsible for the rest of the world.

[...] Juno will be able to co-develop Celgene treatments that target immune system cells.