$220 million in a deal that will give it a 15 percent stake in biotechnology firm CellPro Inc., the two companies said Monday.

Analysts and company executives said the deal would help CellPro speed the marketing in Europe and Asia of its products for treatment of cancer patients.

Under the deal, Corange, a Bermuda-based company that owns Boehringer Mannheim-Therapeutics of Germany and DePuy Ortheopedics of Warsaw, Indiana, will pay $110 million for newly issued CellPro common stock in two installments.

Corange will also pay a $10 million signing fee and provide up to $55 million for research and another $45 million in payments following CellPro clinical trials.

CellPro, which has traded as low as $11.25 a share in the past year, rose $3.125 to $33.875 in Nasdaq trading -- a new 52-week high.

"This is a very important day for us at CellPro,'' CellPro chief executive Richard Murdock said. "This will allow us to accelerate our product launch in Europe and will give us immediate access to markets we could not have reached on our own.'' He also said the arrangement gives the company the capital it needs to develop new applications of its technology.

"Importantly for us we will also maintain our independence as a company,'' he said.

CellPro's Ceprate SC system, which the Bothell, Washington company recently began selling in Europe, allows technicians to isolate and concentrate rare stem cells, from which whole blood or bone marrow can be reconstituted.

The device could make bone marrow transplants more effective, allowing physicians to use high-dose chemotherapy on cancer patients. Many cancer patients need bone-marrow transplants after chemotherapy, which kills cells indiscriminately.

Paul Boni, an analyst with Mehta & Isaly, said the deal should help Cellpro win wider acceptance of its stem-cell therapy for cancer patients.

He said there could be 1 million patients a year who could benefit from the Cellpro technology.

"Just about any cancer is a candidate,'' Boni said. "Sales are going to be driven by an acceptance of the techonology.'' Boni and other industry analysts praised the deal, which they said was a welcome infusion of cash for the biotechnology industry.

"There's a tremendous amount of dollars up front, and that's always a nice thing,'' said Greg Brown of Vector Securities International. "It removes a lot of the capital risk that every biotech company worries about.'' Corange will get a seat on the CellPro board and will get exclusive worldwide marketing rights to diagnostic products using CellPro's cell-separation technologies.

Under terms of the definitive agreement Corange will own about 15 percent of CellPro when it completes its equity investment, which will be done in two stages over 15 months. -- Reuter.