Headcount: 8,852
Revenues: $15,544*
Net Income: $5,455
R&D: $3,490

*Celgene figures are estimates for Jan 2019-Nov 2019, as they were acquired by BMS prior to the end of the year.

TOP SELLING DRUGS

Celgene became a wholly owned subsidiary of Bristol-Myers Squibb following the completion of the $74 billion acquisition in November. The merger creates a leading oncology franchise in both solid tumors and hematologic malignancies with Opdivo and Yervoy as well as Revlimid and Pomalyst; a top five immunology and inflammation franchise with Orencia and Otezla; and the number one cardiovascular franchise led by Eliquis. The combined company, which has nine products with more than $1 billion in annual sales, will likely rank #5 or #6 in next year’s report.

In connection with the merger with BMS, Celgene entered an agreement to sell the global rights to one of its top sellers OTEZLA to Amgen for $13.4 billion. Otezla is currently approved for three indications in the U.S., moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and oral ulcers associated with Behçet’s Disease. Otezla is approved in more than 50 markets outside the U.S., including the EU and Japan, and has patent exclusivity through at least 2028 in the U.S., and will remain a key competitor in the psoriasis market.

Since the merger was announced back in January of 2019, there have been several advancements of key value drivers, namely patent progress for top seller REVLIMID, the FDA approvals of INREBIC (fedratinib) for certain forms of myelofibrosis, and REBLOZYL for Thalassaemia, along with regulatory filings of luspatercept and ozanimod in the U.S. and Europe.

REBLOZYL, for the treatment of anemia in patients with beta thalassemia who require regular red blood cell transfusions, is the first and only FDA-approved erythroid maturation agent, representing a new class of therapy which works by regulating late-stage red blood cell maturation to help patients reduce their RBC transfusion burden.

Also, the FDA approval of INREBIC (Fedratinib) represents the first new treatment in nearly a decade for patients with Myelofibrosis, providing a once-daily oral option for patients affected by the rare bone marrow cancer.

Among other advancing assets, Celgene’s Phase III QUAZAR AML-001 Study of CC-486 as maintenance therapy in newly diagnosed Acute Myeloid Leukemia met primary and key secondary endpoints, with analysis showing a highly statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in overall survival. Celgene plans regulatory submissions beginning 1H20.

Lastly, as part an effort to advance cell manufacturing, Celgene and Ovizio Imaging Systems executed supply agreements for the automation of certain engineered T cell manufacturing processes. Celgene will be using Ovizio’s on-line iLine F microscope, and the BioConnect system, a closed, single-use fluidic sampling system, to further automate the manufacturing of engineered T-cell investigational products and improve product control across its global manufacturing network.

Headquarters: Summit, NJ
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Headcount: 8,852
Revenues: $15,281 (+18%)
Net Income: $4,046 (+38%)
R&D: $5,673 (-4%)

TOP SELLING DRUGS 

The year 2019 had barely begun when on January 3, BMS said it was paying roughly $74 billion to acquire Celgene, creating a top 10 company and a leading specialty biopharma in the areas of cancer, inflammatory and immunologic disease and cardiovascular disease.

The combined company offers leading oncology franchises in both solid tumors and hematologic malignancies with Opdivo and Yervoy as well as Revlimid and Pomalyst; a top five immunology and inflammation franchise with Orencia and Otezla; and the number one cardiovascular franchise led by Eliquis. The portfolio will include nine products with more than $1 billion in annual sales and significant potential for growth in the core disease areas of oncology, immunology and inflammation and cardiovascular disease.

When the news was announced, near-term launch opportunities included six expected product launches: two in immunology and inflammation, TYK2 and ozanimod; and four in hematology, luspatercept, liso-cel (JCAR017), bb2121 and fedratinib.

Together, the company will also have expanded capabilities in small molecule design, biologics/synthetic biologics, protein homeostasis, antibody engineering and cell therapy.

In 2018, growth was driven by strong product sales including Revlimid, $9.6 billion, up 18%; Pomalyst, $2 billion, up 26%; Otezla, $1.6 billion, up 26%; and Abraxane, $1 billion, up 7%.

Early in 2018, Celgene acquired Impact Biomedicines and its fedratinib for myelofibrosis and polycythemia vera, for $7 billion.

Celgene also plans to open a Research Incubator and Collaboration Center offering entrepreneurs lab space, resources and support to scientists and companies with potentially transformational approaches to accelerate medical innovations. Set to open this year, the facility houses 16,000 sq.-ft. of shared and fully equipped lab facilities on its campus in Summit, NJ.

Celgene formed several R&D partnerships, including a long-term discovery and development deal to identify new therapeutics in oncology with Evotec leveraging its preclinical discovery platform. This includes a phenotypic screening platform with unique compound libraries and associated target deconvolution capabilities. Celgene entered another discovery tie-up with Evotec in the field of targeted protein degradation that will leverage Evotec’s Panomics platform to identify drug targets that are traditionally difficult to track. The platform applies proteomics and transcriptomics at industrial scale to profile and select promising drug candidates based on cell profiles.

Headcount: 7,000
Year Established: 1986
Revenues: $13,003 (+16%)
Net Income: $2,940 (+47%)
R&D: $5,915 (+32%)

TOP SELLING DRUGS 

Celgene had another extremely successful year in 2017, bringing in $13 billion in total revenue, a 16% year-over-year jump. Despite that growth, a pending New Drug Application for Ozanimod shocked many when the filing was recently rejected by the FDA, and a significant pipeline asset, GED-0301 for Crohn’s disease, suffered an unexpected failure in a pivotal trial. Still, the company’s commercial portfolio grew with the approval of IDHIFA, a first-in-class targeted therapy for patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and an IDH2 mutation. Additionally, over the course of the year 160 were underway for about 60 different indications, and 25 new molecules entered preclinical or Phase I development.

Celegene also had an eventful year within acquisitions. Most notably, in early 2018, a transaction was closed to acquire Juno Therapeutics. Around the same time, Celgene also acquired Impact Biomedicines for an upfront payment of approximately $1.1 billion, and up to $1.25 billion in contingent payments based on regulatory approval milestones for myelofibrosis. This acquisition came with the selective JAK2 inhibitor, fedratinibm, which provides the company with a late-stage treatment for myelo brosis with combination potential with other pipeline assets.

Within collaboration news, a drug discovery and development partnership with Evotec aims to identify new therapeutics in oncology. Evotec will receive an upfront payment of $65 million and may be eligible to receive significant milestone payments as well as tiered royalties on each licensed program. Meanwhile, Abide Therapeutics also partnered with Celgene, granting the company an exclusive worldwide license for ABX-1772, a preclinical drug candidate discovered by Abide.  Notably, Celgene partnered with bluebird bio to co-develop and co-promote bb2121, an investigational anti-B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy for the potential treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma in the U.S. From that collaboration, bb2121 was granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation by the FDA based on preliminary clinical data from the ongoing Phase I study CRB-401.

In R&D, February 2018 brought positive results from the Phase III study of Pomalyst/Imnovid for the treatment of relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. The international clinical trial is the only Phase III trial to investigate a triplet combination in patients who have all received prior lenalidomide (Revlimid), a population for which there is a growing unmet medical need.

Headcount: 7,000
Revenues: $11,229 (+21%)
Net Income: $1,999 (+25%)
R&D: $4,470 (+21%)

TOP SELLING DRUGS 

Coming off a successful 2016, results for 1Q17 were equally impressive, with revenues up 18% to nearly $3.0 billion. Celgene’s three top-selling drugs, Revlimid, Pomalyst and Otezla, climbed 20%, 33%, and 24%, respectively. The new year also began with positive Phase II data of ozanimod in Crohn’s disease and Phase III trials planned by year-end. Ozanimod, an immunomodulatory drug, is also in Phase III trials in relapsing multiple sclerosis (RMS), which met the primary endpoint in reducing relapse rate compared to weekly interferon (Avonex), and demonstrated significant reductions in brain atrophy compared to Avonex. An NDA to the FDA, based on the trials for RMS, is expected by the end of this year.

In other R&D news, Celgene’s NDA for enasidenib in relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with an isocitrate dehydrogenase 2 (IDH2) mutation was granted Priority Review and given a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) action date of Aug. 30, 2017. Also, the FDA approved an expanded indication for Revlimid as a maintenance treatment for multiple myeloma following autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplant, making it the first and only treatment to receive FDA approval for maintenance following auto-HSCT.

When it comes to alliances, Celgene is known for its costly pursuit of drug development partnerships, which has thus far led to a diverse pipeline appealing assets. At the start of this year, Celgene acquired Delinia, Inc. for $300 million upfront and as much as additional $475 million, expanding its pipeline of potential next-gen medicines for autoimmune disorders. The transaction expands Celgene’s inflammation and immunology pipeline with Delinia’s lead program, DEL106, as well as related programs with potential to treat systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis.

Entering the immunotherapy race, a global immuno-oncology alliance with BeiGene aims to advance a PD-1 inhibitor program for solid tumor cancers. This set Celgene back $263 million and a $150 million equity investment. The deal complements Celgene’s partnership with AstraZeneca to develop durvalumab in hematological malignancies and expand its presence in China’s cancer market.

Other recent deals include a TriNKET platform pact with Dragonfly to develop natural killer cell-based immunotherapies. Celgene has the exclusive option to license as many as four candidates with potential to treat acute myeloid leukemia, multiple myeloma, and additional hematological malignancies.

Headcount: 7,000
Revenues:  $9,256 (+21%)
Net Income: $1,602 (-20%)
R&D: $3,697 (+52%)

TOP SELLING DRUGS

Committed to expanding a sustainable pipeline of cancer treatments Celgene Corporation acquired privately held Quanticel Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company focused on cancer drug discovery. Celgene bought Quanticel for $100 million upfront with an additional $385 million paid out upon research, development, and regulatory advances related to Quanticel’s research and development platform.

Through the agreement, Celgene will have full access to Quanticel’s proprietary platform for the single-cell genomic analysis of human cancer, as well as Quanticel’s lead programs that target specific epigenetic modifiers to advance Celgene’s pipeline of innovative cancer therapies.

The acquisition culminates a 2011 strategic alliance between the two companies. Over the course of the three-and-a-half year alliance, Quanticel industrialized its single-cell platform for analysis of tumor cellular content and applied it to novel target discovery and the generation of high-quality drug candidates. Multiple drug candidates from Quanticel are expected to enter the clinic in 2016.

In another deal during the year, Celgene expanded its inflammation and immunology portfolio with the acquisition of Receptos for roughly $7.2 billion. The acquisition expands its inflammation and immunology portfolio with the addition of Ozanimod, an oral, selective sphingosine 1-phosphate 1 and 5 receptor modulator (S1P), to its pipeline of potential disease-altering medicines and investigational compounds.

Clinical studies of Ozanimod have demonstrated several areas of potential advantage over existing oral therapies for the treatment of ulcerative colitis (UC) and relapsing multiple sclerosis (RMS), including its cardiac, hepatotoxicity and lymphocyte recovery profile.

To develop small molecule therapeutics in oncology, inflammation and immunology and immune-oncology, Celgene partnered with Nurix during the year. In an R&D alliance set up to discover and develop therapeutics for ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, Celgene teamed up with Inception IBD, a Québec-based biotechnology company, and Inserm Transfert Initiative, created under the initiative of Inserm, the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research.