Mesoblast takes partnership with Celgene, shares rise 27pc

Mesoblast chief executive Silviu Itescu says new strategic partner Celgene has a "strong franchise and sales and marketing. Photo: Josh Robenstone

Mesoblast chief executive Silviu Itescu says a $58.5 million investment from pharmaceutical giant Celgene gives the company a strong potential route to market as the stem cell therapy developernears its first sales.

The American giant Celgene, which had revenue of $US7.7 billion ($10 billion) from treatments for cancers and inflammatory diseases like psoriasis, picked up 15.3 million shares at $3.82 a share. Investors welcomed the deal, pushing the volatile stock up 24 per cent to $3.99 on Monday.

The surge boosted the value of Mr Itescu's 22 per cent stake in the company by $53 million to $272 million.

Mesoblast shares have lost about 16 per cent in the past year, compared with a 10 per cent rise in the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index.

The stock last traded at the placement price a month ago, but has traded as high as $5.75 in the past year. Mr Itescu said Mesoblast and Celgene began talks about six months ago. He described the deal as "a fair transaction".

"The right time is when you come to an arrangement with a strategic partner," he said. "Where the share price is at any given time is much less relevant to the value of the technology and the partnership."

As part of the deal, which gives Celgene a stake of about 4.5 per cent, the company will have first right of refusal over licensing deals for the commercialisation of Mesoblast's adult stem cell products in the treatment of certain diseases.

That is, if Mesoblast is approached by another company to licence itsdrug candidates for the prevention and treatment of acute graft versus host disease (GVHD), certain oncologic diseases, inflammatory bowel diseases, and organ transplant rejection, Celgene will have six months in which it can mull whether it would like to trump the deal.

Mr Itescu said Celgene has a "strong franchise and sales and marketing capability" in cancer and inflammatory diseases. He said Mesoblast's candidate for the treatment of graft versus host disease, a common complication of bone marrow transplants used to treat cancer, "fits perfectly well into their cancer and oncology franchise."

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Mesoblast takes partnership with Celgene, shares rise 27pc