Celgene Corp. is jumping in the game with another young, promising Bay Area cancer-focused biotech.
The $11 billion East Coast drug developer (NASDAQ: CELG) joined with Nextech Invest Ltd. and Arcus Ventures and existing investors in a $37 million Series B financing for Cleave Biosciences Inc. At this rate, the investment probably isn't Celgene's last round of corporate venture cash.
Couple that cash with Celgene's participation in a $50 million Series A round for Arcus Biosciences Inc. of Hayward, its buy-in with a $46 million Series A for South San Francisco's Ideaya Biosciences and its stake in the $50 million Series B round for South San Francisco's FLX Bio Inc., and you've got a trend.
But Celgene's stakes in the Bay Area are diverse. The company, which has a research operation in San Francisco's Mission Bay, has equity investments and drug research partnerships with established players like OncoMed Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: OMED) of Redwood City and South San Francisco's Sutro Biopharma Inc. Yet its interests are deep in in early-stage companies, such as Cleave, which is in the first phase of clinical trials with its lead drug.
As OncoMed CEO Paul Hastings told the San Francisco Business Times a couple years ago, Celgene under Executive Chairman Robert Hugin always pursues new opportunities.
"They really know what they want," Hastings said, "and they go get it."
Celgene also backed San Carlos' Flexus Biosciences, a cancer immunotherapy company in San Carlos that has ties to Arcus Biosciences and Ideaya and was snatched up by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY) for $1.25 billion in early 2015. Celgene also is a partner in tech millionaire Sean Parker's San Francisco-based Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy.
Celgene's involvement with Cleave — whose existing investors include 5AM Ventures, Clarus Ventures, New Enterprise Associates and others— doesn't come as a total surprise. A few months ago, Cleave snagged Celgene executive Tim Smith as its first chief business officer.