Juno Buys Stage Cell

(RTTNews) - Juno Therapeutics (JUNO) on Monday said it has acquired Stage Cell Therapeutics GmbH, a privately held biotechnology company based in Munich and Göttingen, Germany.

As per the terms, Juno made an upfront payment of €52.5 million in cash (about $59 million) and 486,279 shares of Juno stock to acquire the 95% of Stage not already owned by Juno.

Juno is also obligated to pay success based payments of up to €135 million based upon the achievement of development and commercialization milestones related to novel reagents (€40 million), advanced automation technology (€65 million), and Stage's existing clinical pipeline (€30 million).

Juno said the deal furthers its strategy of being a leader in process development and the manufacturing of cellular therapies.

The deal provides Juno access to transformative cell selection and activation capabilities, next generation manufacturing automation technologies, enhanced control of its supply chain, and lower expected long-term cost of goods.

Juno plans to operate the acquired company, which employs 23 scientists, engineers, and other personnel, as a wholly-owned German subsidiary under the name Juno Therapeutics GmbH.