The godfather of IPOs

Celgene Corp. (NASDAQ:CELG) has no corporate venture arm but its prowess in taking equity stakes in interesting young biotechs - often in parallel with a partnership - has been on display on Wall Street as five of its investments have priced IPOs this year, including Acceleron Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ:XLRN) last week.

Celgene has argued that the lack of a formal venture group gives it freedom to work with potential partners to hash out an amenable transaction, be it a venture investment, option, licensing or acquisition (see BioCentury, Nov. 19, 2012)...