Cambridge, MA-based Acceleron Pharma announced today that it has raised $30 million in a private financing round. One of the participants in this round was Summit, NJ-based Celgene (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CELG]]), which has a partnership with Acceleron to develop two drugs to treat anemia.
The two companies expanded their partnership most recently in August, when Celgene granted Acceleron an up-front payment of $25 million and the opportunity to earn $217 million in milestone payments for rights to the second anemia compound. The companies are aiming to grab a piece of the $5 billion worldwide market for anemia now dominated by Thousand Oaks, CA-based Amgen (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMGN]]).
The funding round also included contributions from Advanced Technology Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Flagship Ventures, and all of Acceleron’s other existing investors. The company plans to use the proceeds to advance its pipeline, which also includes experimental compounds to treat head and neck cancer, duchenne muscular dystrophy, and bone loss.
