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Celgene's roving band of dealmakers has selected San Diego-based Abide Therapeutics for its latest option package, taking an equity stake in the biotech as it settles into a front row seat on its progress regarding a broad R&D front and gaining first dibs on Abide's lead program.
Abide got started with insights from a pair of prominent Scripps investigators on a large 'superfamily' of enzymes called serine hydrolases. Last May the biotech inked a $430 million diabetes/metabolics deal with Merck ($MRK). Today it's announced that it is getting a $50 million upfront, a slate of unspecified milestones and a "small" equity investment as Celgene ($CELG)--focused on immunology and inflammation in this deal--positions itself with an option on the first two drugs to reach...