Boston, MA 04/28/2014 (wallstreetpr) – Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG) has reported a greater than expected Q1 profit on account of higher sales of its oncology products, especially Reylimid, its flagship multiple myeloma drug. The profit margin, however, dropped significantly due to greater expenditure involved in launching new drugs, as well as greater costs incurred in research and development.
Celgene Corp has upped its revenue and profit forecasts for 2015 and 2017 basis the company’s improved outlook for the long-term that stems from its present momentum of its blood cancer drugs.
Collaborations
Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG) has entered into a global license agreement with Nogra Pharma Limited to develop and commercially market GED-0301. This is an oral antisense DNA oligonucleotide that targets Smad7 mRNA for treating moderatetosevere Crohn’s disease as well as other ailments. Nogra Pharma Limited will get a payment of $710 million upfront. Other tiered royalties, regulatory, development and sales milestone payments, will follow. The aggregate of these payments is likely to be $815 million for multiple diseases.
FORMA Therapeutics is entering into the next strategic alliance and option contract with Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG). This new partnership will facilitate extension of capacities across biology and chemistry for FORMA. FORMA has received a cash payment of $225 million upfront. The term of this contract is three and a half years.
Acceleron Pharma Inc and Celgene Corp have joined hands to publish two papersin the April issue of the journal Nature Medicine that throws light on how ACE-536 and sotatercept facilitate formation of red blood cells through an erythropoietin (EPO). EPO stimulates multiplication of earlystage erythrocyte precursors to form new erythrocytes.
New developments
Mylan Inc has sued Celgene Corp to thwart the U.S. biotech company Celgene’s effort to keep the generic versions of two medicines that generate $4.5 billion of annual revenue from the market.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved OTEZLA, an oral drug produced by Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG) that treats psoriatic arthritis. This ailment is associated with skin disease psoriasis that causes swelling, joint pain and stiffness.
