Five Prime Therapeutics

History

2021: Amgen bought Five Prime Therapeutics for $1.9 billion

In early March 2021, Amgen bought Five Prime Therapeutics, a developer of gastric cancer, for $1.9 billion. Under the agreement, Amgen will pay $38 per Five Prime share, well above the usual market price ($21.26). The deal is expected to close by the end of the second quarter of 2021.

Thanks to this acquisition, Amgen will receive at its disposal the experimental drug Five Prime, bemarituzumab, which will be used to treat stomach cancer and goes through the final stages of research. In addition to treating a certain type of stomach cancer, this drug can also play a role in combating other malignancies, including breast and ovarian cancer.

Amgen acquired Five Prime Therapeutics for $1.9 billion

While in the United States the new drug is unlikely to seriously affect the market for anti-tumor treatment, its use in Asia is much wider, since Amgen owns a significant market share there, said an analyst at Truist Securities. The new therapy affects a gene that has been found to be actively expressed in about 30% of patients with gastric cancer. Due to the spread of this disease in the Asia-Pacific region - a key growth area for the development of Amgen - the company plans to strengthen bemarituzumab advertising in these markets in order to maximize its potential.

According to the press release, Amgen will receive a percentage of future sales in China, under a pre-existing joint development and commercialization agreement between Five Prime and Zai Lab Co. However, the company's management recalled that the acquisition of Five Prime does not mean abandoning the development of other treatments aimed at both malignancies and other diseases.^[1]

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