|
|
|
|
||
Re: MF: A $1 Billion Bet on Cancer Cures Thanks buygene. Worth repeating . . . Douglass: That said, it is also important to point out that we often talk about when a drug gets a big pharma, or biotech partner -- a drug owned by a small company -- that's a good sign. I would say when you have a small company that gets partially bought from a big biotech or big pharma, that's also a very good sign. When you think about Celgene, this is not an abnormal thing for them to do. They've actually done this a number of times, thinking about equity stakes and getting in pretty early stage on companies. Campbell: Celgene doesn't mess around and they love to take equity stakes in their collaborations. The other thing investors have to recognize too is, Celgene is great at what they do. They're a top tier company. You have to give them some benefit of the doubt that they're making this investment because they see some big time potential. I listened to the conference call. They think that they could have a product on the market with collaboration as early as 2020. For Celgene, the other thing is this is a rounding error deal for them. It's a big deal for Juno, but it's a rounding error for them. They've got over $7 billion in cash. So this $1 billion isn't a huge deal for them. They're doing $8 billion in sales right now, they're expected to more than double that by 2020 without the help of products from collaborations like this one with Juno. I think Celgene is saying "I think Juno has something really good and it could be big. It could be blockbuster big. Why don't we align ourselves with them and make sure we're the ones who capture the benefit if it's true?" Douglass: That makes perfect sense. You mentioned a bit of 'giving Celgene the benefit of the doubt'; what do you think? You're a Celgene shareholder. I am as well. What do you think about the deal from Celgene's point of view? Obviously, it's a great deal for Juno. What about as a Celgene shareholder? Campbell: I'm totally OK with it. I love Celgene. I think this is another bit of evidence showing they're not afraid of getting involved in what could be transformational medicine. If you can reengineer a patient's immune system to better identify and kill cancer cells and reduce the reliance on chemotherapy that's a game changing, new approach. I applaud them wanting it. |
return to message board, top of board |