Juno Therapeutics acquires AbVitro, adding next-gen single cell sequencing capabilities

US biopharma company Juno Therapeutics (Nasdaq: JUNO) revealed yesterday that it has acquired AbVitro, a privately held biotechnology company based in Boston, Massachusetts.

The acquisition provides Juno with a leading next-generation single cell sequencing platform that will augment Juno’s capabilities to create best-in-class engineered T cells against a broad array of cancer targets. However, the news sent Juno’s shares 4% lower to $34.78 in morning trading on Monday.

Juno and US biotech major Celgene Corp (Nasdaq: CELG) have agreed in principle to enter into an agreement to license Celgene a subset of the acquired technology and to grant Celgene options to certain related potential product rights emanating from the acquired technology. Last year, Juno entered a 10-year collaboration with Celgene which involves a initial of $1 billion, of which $150 million upfront (The Pharma Letter June 30, 2015).