Juno Therapeutics jumps 53% after report Celgene is interested in buying the cancer drugmaker

Graham Rapier

Jan 17, 2018, 19:53 IST

Shares of Juno Therapeutics are up more than 50% in early trading on Wednesday following a Wall Street Journal report Tuesday evening that biotech giant Celgene is in talks to buy the cancer drugmaker.
Juno is developing a highly personalized cancer treatment called CAR T-cell therapy (CAR is short for chimeric antigen receptor). 2017 was a big year for these treatments, with the Food and Drug Administration approving two, and Gilead Sciences buying CAR-T drugmaker Kite Pharma for $12 billion.
Celgene has been under pressure from investors to make some changes after a rocky 2017. Already in 2018, the company has acquired Impact Biosciences in a $7 billion deal, a move that didn't entirely excite the biotech community, Business Insider's Lydia Ramsey reports.
Juno closed down 6.46% on Tuesday. Celgene is down 1.43% pre-market Wednesday.