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Amgen says it will use its biological process development and manufacturing skills to commercialize Five Prime Therapeutics’ gastric cancer antibody, bemarituzumab.
The deal announced yesterday and is expected to come to fruition before July sees Amgen pocketing south-San Francisco-based biotech Five Prime Therapeutics for around $ 1.9 billion in cash.
The main candidate for Five Prime is bemarituzumab, a monoclonal antibody designed to block tumor growth in patients with tumors overexpressing FGFR2b. The company is studying the drug in partnership with the Zai Lab trial in combination with chemotherapy in patients with gastric cancer.
“Five Prime’s main asset is bema, the first-in-its-class treatment, phase III ready with positive phase II data in first-line gastric cancer, the third leading cause of cancer death worldwide today.” hui and provides us with a medium to long term volume growth opportunity, ”said Peter Griffith, Chief Financial Officer of Amgen, at the 41st Annual Cowen Healthcare Conference yesterday.
“It strengthens our innovative oncology portfolio and complements our gastric cancer control programs. It advances our efforts to expand our business internationally and in Asia-Pacific in particular, where gastric cancer is very prevalent, where we expect to generate approximately 25% of our company’s total sales growth over the past 10 years. coming years.
The acquisition demonstrates a complete turnaround for Five Prime. Two years ago, the company cut jobs and was forced to restructure after disappointing results in a trial of the anti-CSF-1R candidate cabiralizumab, being investigated with its partner Bristol-Myers Squibb. The company also eliminated most of its in-house target discovery and validation as well as therapeutic generation and protein engineering capabilities during the restructuring, shifting its focus to bemarituzumab and its other clinical antibodies.
Looking ahead, Griffin said, “We will leverage our leading expertise in biologics and process and manufacturing development to develop and commercialize this product for patients around the world. We expect the deal to close by the end of Q2 2021 and look forward to bringing this important new drug to Phase III as soon as possible.
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