Shares of Amgen Inc. fell 1.0% in premarket trading Monday after the biotechnology company said it agreed to buy Celgene Corp.’s psoriasis treatment Otezla for $13.4 billion in cash.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. said the previously announced decision to Otezla was part of the regulatory approval process for the pending acquisition of Celgene. Shares of Celgene surged 3.7% in premarket trading and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. shot up 5.2%. Amgen said the deal will immediately add to adjusted earnings per share, and will not interrupt the deployment of its capital allocation priorities.
“The acquisition of Otezla offers a unique opportunity for Amgen to provide patients an innovative oral therapy for psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis that fits squarely within our portfolio and complements our Enbrel(R) and AMGEVITA(R) brands,” said Amgen Chief Executive Robert Bradway.
Amgen’s stock has gained 2.3% year to date while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 9.9%.
By Tomi Kilgore
Source: MarketWatch
Thermo Fisher Scientific has acquired Novasep’s viral vector manufacturing business in Belgium, Henogen, for about €725m ($874.5m) in cash. Henogen offers biotechnology firms, as well as biopharma customers contract manufacturing services for vaccines and therapies.
Research and development group of Eli Lilly and Company, Loxo Oncology at Lilly, and clinical-stage oncology company Merus have announced a research collaboration and exclusive license agreement to develop T-Cell re-directing bispecific antibodies.
Chinese cancer biotech Adagene has filed to raise up to $125 million in a Nasdaq IPO. The listing will give Adagene the means to run early-phase clinical trials of antibodies against CD137 and CTLA-4.
