Pharma BD Deal Intelligence
Istodax became a durable niche oncology drug but never scaled — a small, forgettable deal that ultimately lost half its label a decade later
Full analysis, sources & comparables →Romidepsin, an HDAC inhibitor prodrug, received FDA approval for CTCL in November 2009 and a second approval for PTCL in June 2011 — the label-expansion thesis…
Celgene agreed to acquire Gloucester for $340M cash plus up to $300M in regulatory milestones, gaining rights to Istodax to bolster its anticancer drug…
With Celgene's marketing muscle, Istodax could soon provide very serious competition for Allos Therapeutics' newly-approved PTCL drug Folotyn.
Source summaries from our enrichment pipeline; follow links for originals.
All 6 sources with sentiment breakdown →
Celgene acquired Gloucester Pharmaceuticals for $340M in cash plus up to $300M in regulatory milestone payments (approximately $640M total). The deal gave Celgene romidepsin (Istodax), an HDAC-inhibitor approved for cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, strengthening its hematology-oncology portfolio.
Istodax became a durable niche oncology drug but never scaled — a small, forgettable deal that ultimately lost half its label a decade later
Assessment window: 15yr post-close.
| Deal | Year | Value | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Celgene Corporation / Gloucester Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (this deal) | 2009 | $640M | 40 |
| Celgene Corporation / Bristol-Myers Squibb Company | 2015 | $2.0B | 85 |
| Celgene Corporation / Agios Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 2010 | $130M | 83 |
| Celgene Corporation / Bristol-Myers Squibb Company | 2018 | $9.0B | 68 |
| Celgene Corporation / Abraxis BioScience Inc. | 2010 | $2.9B | 65 |
| Celgene Corporation / Receptos Inc. | 2015 | $7.2B | 63 |
| Celgene Corporation / Impact Biomedicines | 2018 | $7.0B | 54 |
← Browse all deals · How we score deals
More: 2009 deals · Celgene Corporation deals