PharmAkea partners with Celgene

PharmAkea Therapeutics Inc. (San Diego, Calif.) and Celgene Corp. (NASDAQ:CELG) partnered to use PharmAkea's drug discovery platform to discover and develop small molecules to treat cancer and fibrotic diseases. Celgene will provide $35 million in funding for the initial three-year term of the deal. PharmAkea's programs are in preclinical development, and the company is working on two to three undisclosed targets. Celgene provided seed funding to PharmAkea last year and has an undisclosed equity stake. Celgene also has an exclusive option to acquire PharmAkea under undisclosed terms. On Friday, Celgene was up $4.65 to $157.27.

PharmAkea also raised $10 million in a series A round from new investor Bay City Capital. PharmAkea also hired Robert Williamson as CEO and a director. Williamson founded corporate advisory firm LaSalle Venture Advisors and was a partner at The Boston Consulting Group Inc. (Boston, Mass.). Bay City's Carl Goldfischer joined PharmAkea's board, along with Mervyn Turner, former chief strategy officer at Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK) and an advisor to Bay City. Celgene's Thomas Daniel also joined PharmAkea's board. Daniel is EVP and president of global research and early development. ...