Epizyme earns upfront $90 million in deal with Celgene; latter posts 17% sales hike

Privately-held Epizyme and Celgene International Sarl, a subsidiary of USA-based Celgene Corp (Nasdaq: CELG) have formed a strategic partnership to discover, develop and commercialize personalized therapeutics for patients with genetically-defined cancers by inhibiting histone methyltransferases (HMTs), an important epigenetic target class.

Under the terms of the agreement, Celgene receives the exclusive option to license ex-US rights to Epizyme’s available HMT inhibitor programs during an initial three-year period and has the right to extend this option period for one year with additional funding. Epizyme and Celgene will work jointly to discover and develop HMT inhibitors and will co-fund global development of the collaboration programs.

Epizyme retains all US rights to the collaboration programs and receives a $90 million upfront payment, which includes an equity investment. For each HMT inhibitor that Celgene licenses, Epizyme is eligible to earn more than $160 million in milestone payments and up to double-digit royalties on ex-US sales.