Celgene Forges Oncology Partnership With Germany's Evotec

Celgene Corporation CELG — which is recently very much in the news, although for dubious reasons — has struck a partnership with Germany's Evotec AG (ADR) EVTCY, which partners with leading pharma and biotech companies in rapidly progressing innovative drug candidates.

Only recently, FDA named Celgene as one of the companies trying to stifle generic drug development. The company has recent executive departures, including COO Scott Smith and business development head George Golumbeski.

What Happened

Evotec said Tuesday it has struck a long-term strategic drug discovery and development partnership with Celgene to identify new therapies in oncology, specifically for solid tumors. 

The collaboration, according to Evotec, will leverage its phenotypic screening platform, which has unique compound libraries and associated target deconvolution capabilities.

Why It's Important

Both companies are already collaborating on neurodegenerative diseases, and this is an extension of their relationship in another arena.

Celgene has agreed to pay Evotec $65 million upfront and potential significant milestone payments, as well as tiered royalties on each licensed program.

The payments are in return for exclusive opt-in rights to license worldwide rights to all programs developed under the collaboration.

What's Next 

The announcement should remove some of the dark clouds hanging over Celgene, which has seen its shares settle at a four-year low. 

The partnership is a small step in Celgene's efforts to prepare for the eventual loss of the patent on its blockbuster blood cancer drug Revlimid.

Celgene shares were up 2.22 percent at $76.35 at the time of publication Tuesday. 

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