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Juno acquires sequencing play AbVitro

January 12, 2016 2:45 AM UTC

Juno Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:JUNO) acquired next-generation sequencing company AbVitro Inc. (Boston, Mass.) for about $125 million, including about $78 million in cash up front plus 1.3 million Juno shares. The Juno shares are valued at $46.9 million based on Juno's close of $36.39 on Friday, before the acquisition was announced.

The deal gives Juno a high throughput, single-cell sequencing platform that enables identification of natively paired T cell receptors (TCRs) and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell binders, which Juno said will allow it to discover antigen targets. Juno said it also plans to use AbVitro's technology to analyze immune responses to cancer and to monitor the immune system during treatment. ...