Celgene is to hand over a sizeable US$1.1 B in cash upfront to acquire start-up Impact Biomedicines in order to gain access to the Janus kinase 2 (JAK2) inhibitor, fedratinib. Contingent future payments for regulatory approvals in additional indications and sales-based milestones bring the potential total deal value to US$7 B. Following the failure of its Crohn’s disease therapy, mongersen, Celgene will be hoping that it can guide fedratinib towards FDA approval despite the drug being previously dropped from development by Sanofi due to safety concerns.