Celgene Corporation Antes Up $710 Million Upfront For Phase 3-Ready Crohn's Disease Drug

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Celgene Acquires Late-Stage Product for Crohn’s Disease and Other Gastrointestinal Disorders

SUMMIT, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG) entered into a global license agreement with Nogra Pharma Limited, a private pharmaceutical company based in Dublin, Ireland, to develop and commercialize GED-0301, an oral antisense DNA oligonucleotide targeting Smad7 mRNA for the treatment of moderate-to-severe Crohn’s disease and other indications.

A double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter phase II trial of three doses of GED-0301 in 166 patients with active Crohn’s disease has been completed. The data have been submitted to a major medical journal and will be presented at an upcoming medical congress. Based upon these results, Celgene plans to initiate a phase III registration program by year-end 2014.

“GED-0301 is a potentially transformative therapy that demonstrated striking clinical activity in a phase II trial for Crohn’s disease,” said Scott Smith, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Inflammation and Immunology. “It strengthens our expanding pipeline of novel therapies intended to address significant unmet medical need in immune-mediated diseases.”

Under the terms of the license agreement, Nogra Pharma Limited will receive an upfront payment of $710 million, regulatory, development and net sales milestone payments and tiered royalties. Aggregate payments for regulatory and development milestones could potentially be $815 million for multiple indications. Starting from global annual net sales levels of $500 million, aggregate tiered sales milestones could total a maximum of $1,050 million if annual net sales reach $4,000 million.

The license agreement will become effective upon the expiration or termination of the applicable waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended.

About Celgene

Celgene Corporation, headquartered in Summit, New Jersey, is an integrated global biopharmaceutical company engaged primarily in the discovery, development and commercialization of novel therapies for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases through gene and protein regulation. For more information, please visit www.celgene.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, which are generally statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the words "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "plans," "will," “outlook” and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are based on management’s current plans, estimates, assumptions and projections, and speak only as of the date they are made. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement in light of new information or future events, except as otherwise required by law. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and are generally beyond our control. Actual results or outcomes may differ materially from those implied by the forward-looking statements as a result of the impact of a number of factors, many of which are discussed in more detail in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and our other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Contacts

Investors:
Celgene Corporation
Patrick E. Flanigan III, 908-673-9969
Vice President, Investor Relations
or
Media:
Brian P. Gill, 908-673-9530
Vice President, Corporate Communications

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