Concert Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that it has entered into a strategic collaboration with Celgene Corporation directed towards deuterium-modified compounds targeting cancer and inflammation. The collaboration will initially focus on one program, but has the potential to encompass multiple targets. Under the terms of the agreement, Concert will receive an upfront payment from Celgene and in the event Celgene decides to exercise its program options, Concert will be eligible to receive greater than $300 million in development, regulatory, and sales milestone payments for each program selected for development by Celgene. In addition, Concert will receive tiered royalties on any product sales for each of the programs advanced by Celgene.

FORMA Therapeutics Holdings announced a strategic collaboration agreement with Celgene Corp. under which FORMA and Celgene will discover, develop and commercialize drug candidates to regulate protein homeostasis targets. Protein homeostasis, which is important in oncology, neurodegenerative and other disorders, involves a tightly regulated network of pathways controlling the biogenesis, folding, transport and degradation of proteins. The collaboration between FORMA and Celgene will be launched with an undisclosed up-front payment that will enable Celgene to evaluate selected targets and lead assets in protein homeostasis pathways during the pre-clinical phase. Based on such evaluation, Celgene will have the right to obtain exclusive licenses with respect to the development and commercialization of multiple drug candidates outside of the United States, in exchange for research and early development payments of up to $200 million to FORMA. Under the terms of the collaboration agreement, FORMA is incentivized to advance the full complement of drug candidates through phase 1, while Celgene will be responsible for all further global clinical development for each licensed candidate. FORMA is eligible to receive $315 million in potential payments based upon development, regulatory and sales objectives for the first ex-U.S. license. FORMA is also eligible to receive potential payments for successive licenses, which escalate for productivity increasing up to a maximum of $430 million per program. In addition, FORMA will receive royalties on ex-U.S. sales and additional payments if multiple drug candidates reach defined cumulative sales objectives, providing a significant incentive for FORMA to advance multiple drug candidates.

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