SUMMIT (dpa-AFX) - Celgene Corp. (CELG), an integrated biopharmaceutical company, announced Wednesday the establishment of a research consortium by four National Cancer Institute or NCI cancer centers.
The consortium aligns The Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania, The Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at Columbia University Medical Center, the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, and The Tisch Cancer Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
The consortium is joining with Celgene to focus on accelerating the discovery and development of novel cancer therapeutics and diagnostics for the benefit of patients.
Celgene noted that each institution will support the rapid delivery of disease-altering programs to the clinic that may ultimately benefit cancer patients, global healthcare systems and society.
Subsequent to establishing the consortium, Celgene entered into four public-private collaboration agreements in which it paid a total of $50 million, $12.5 million to each institution. The deals were for the option to enter into future agreements to develop and commercialize novel cancer therapeutics arising from the consortium's efforts.
Over the next ten years the institutions intend to present multiple high-impact research programs to Celgene with the goal of developing new life-saving therapeutics.
Subject to Celgene's decision to opt-in and license the resulting technologies, each program has the potential to be valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, the company said.
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