In a key breakthrough observed across the biotechnology sector, Celegne Corporation, a U.S. based biotechnology firm, is set to purchase Impact Biomedicines Incorporation, a key biotech player working on cancer therapies, for nearly USD 7 billion. According to authentic sources, the former has entered into many strategic collaborations and made a large number of acquisitions to add new drugs to its existing product line. In fact, Celegne had acquired the ozanimod drug after its purchase of Receptos Incorporation in 2015 for USD 7.2 billion.
As per reports, the main objective of the firm behind the acquisition of Impact is to gain the latter’s Fedratinib, a kinase inhibitor having ability to treat myelofibrosis, one of the many types of blood cancer. Sources cite that as a part of the acquisition, Celegne will pay USD 1.1 billion in cash upfront to the latter and an additional USD 1.4 billion after getting a green signal from FDA, a food & drug regulatory body based in the U.S. It has also been learnt that the former will pay the rest of amount if the total sales of Impact accrued from the cancer treatment crosses USD 5 billion.
It has been learnt that Celgene’s share prices had dipped nearly by 12% last year with the failure of its own drug referred as mongersen for effectively treating Crohn ailment and low revenue from Otezla’s sales. Earlier last year, it had announced the reduction of its profit target by 2020 discouraging large-scale investments in the firm. One of the key officials of the firm has stated that these strategic acquisitions and partnerships will promote its R&D activities and new drug development efforts.
However, industry experts are skeptical of the impact of the acquisition on the overall revenue of Celegne as earlier its USD 710 million acquisition of Mongersen had failed to deliver expected ROI.