Why Aastrom Biosciences (ASTM) Stock Is Soaring Today

NEW YORK (TheStreet) --Aastrom Biosciences (ASTM) soared Monday after the company announced its acquisition ofSanofi'sCell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine, or CTRM, business for $6.5 million.

Aastrom will pay $4 million in cash and $2.5 million in a promissory note for the business. The company expects the acquisition to close in approximately three weeks.

The acquisition gives Aastromglobal commercial rights to three marketed autologous cell therapy products called Carticel, Epicel and MACI.Revenues of those three products totaled $44 million in 2013. Aastrom will also acquiremanufacturing and production centers in the U.S. and Denmark.

The stock was up 32.1% to $46.5 at 11:15 a.m., by which point it had eclipsed its average volume of380,200 with more than 1.6 million shares traded for the day. Aastrom hit a high of $4.95 for the day as of that time.

"The acquisition of Sanofi's CTRM business is a transformative transaction that positions Aastrom as a fully-integrated global regenerative medicine company," said Aastrom President and CEO Nick Colangelo in a statement. "The CTRM business brings us global manufacturing, marketing and sales capabilities that are structured to support the current portfolio of marketed products as well as our future product development plans. This transaction also provides us with a platform to generate operating income to support the development of our high-potential pipeline products and continued growth through additional strategic transactions."

"Sanofi's CTRM business, a pioneering organization with more than 20 years of experience in cell therapy and regenerative medicine, developed and marketed some of the first regenerative medicine products in the world," he continued. "We look forward to working with the talented CTRM team to build Aastrom into the leading cell therapy company in the regenerative medicine field."

ASTM data by YCharts

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Why Aastrom Biosciences (ASTM) Stock Is Soaring Today