The acquistion of Celegene is a huge leap forward for Delinia, a start up which only had its Series A last September, 

when the autoimmune company, with only our full-time staff members., raised  $35 million to develop the company.

The deal ( $300 million upfront, with a potential further $475 million in milestone payments)  is mostly about 

a regulatory T cell therapy, known as DEL106, a novel IL-2 mutein Fc fusion protein designed to preferentially upregulate Tregs, immune cells that are critical to maintaining natural self-tolerance and immune system homeostasis. Augmenting Tregs as a means of restoring immune system balance has the potential to benefit patients with a variety of autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis.

“Delinia is at the forefront of advancing new approaches to treating patients with severe and debilitating autoimmune diseases,” said Rupert Vessey, FRCP DPhil, President of Research and Early Development for Celgene Corporation. “We look forward to progressing DEL106 into the clinic next year.”

The companies plan to close the transaction within the 1st quarter of 2017.

Source: Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Press Release