"We are driven by two fundamental factors. One is our unwavering desire to build a pipeline, specifically while we have the resources to do so, because Celgene’s core business continues to do very well," Golumbeski said. "The other thing that drives our business development activity is how many things in a given year are available that meet our scientific and medical criteria for excellence and novelty. I would say we are always aiming for the very utmost in top tier work.

"I worry every week that the ecosystem will get barren, but so far that hasn’t been the case," Golumbeski said. "When the capital markets opened up a few years ago, that benefited some of the really great entrepreneurs and venture capitalists that like to fund new companies. The amount of venture capital available increased, which has created a new bolus of companies, many of which are maturing into very exciting stories."

"The bottom line is that the large companies which are net acquirers really need to constantly grow their pipelines. Most of these companies are very good at identifying things they’re interested in and pursuing them," Golumbeski said. “Therefore, I believe that we will continue to see strong business development activity from larger companies, because pipelines are rarely deep enough."

Celgene's Partnered Pipeline Delivers Successes And Setbacks

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