Celgene Closes $7.2 Bln. Acquisition Of Receptos

(RTTNews) - Celgene Corp (CELG) on Thursday said it has closed its acquisition of Receptos Inc. Receptos stockholders received $232.00 per share in cash, for a total of about $7.2 billion, net of cash acquired, the company said.

As a result of the completion of the merger, the common stock of Receptos is no longer listed for trading on the NASDAQ Global Market or any other exchange and trading ceased at the close of the markets on August 27.

The acquisition of Receptos significantly enhances Celgene's Inflammation & Immunology portfolio, further diversifies the company's expected revenue beginning in 2019, and builds upon Celgene's growing expertise in inflammatory bowel disease.

The transaction adds Ozanimod, a novel, potential best-in-class, oral, selective sphingosine 1-phosphate 1 and 5 receptor modulator (S1P) to Celgene's deep and diverse pipeline of potential disease-altering medicines and investigational compounds.

Based on clinical studies, Ozanimod demonstrated several areas of potential advantage over existing oral therapies for the treatment of ulcerative colitis (UC) and relapsing multiple sclerosis (RMS), including its cardiac, hepatotoxicity and lymphocyte recovery profile.

The phase III TRUE NORTH trial in UC is currently underway with data expected in 2018. The phase III RADIANCE and SUNBEAM RMS trials are ongoing and data are expected in the first half of 2017 to support a RMS approval in 2018. Celgene believes Ozanimod is positioned to potentially become the first S1P receptor modulator to be approved for inflammatory bowel disease.