Amgen to Acquire Alantos for $300 million

Amgen to Acquire Alantos for $300 million

Diabetes drug key in purchase of Cambridge-based pharma company.

Biotech company Amgen said Wednesday that it plans to acquire diabetes-drug developer Alantos Pharmaceuticals for $300 million.

 

Thousand Oaks, California-based Amgen, announced the acquisition plans as part of a weeklong shopping spree, which also included Monday’s purchase of Ilypsa, a privately-held company developing a drug for chronic kidney disease, for $420 million.

 

Alantos Pharmaceuticals, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is a private company developing drugs for the treatment of diabetes and inflammatory diseases. Alantos’s lead drug candidate is in clinical development for the treatment of type II diabetes.

 

Type II diabetes occurs when the body does not produce enough insulin to control blood sugar levels. The drugs developed by Alantos work by making it easier for the body to lower these levels.

 

Following the completion of the transaction, Alantos will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amgen.

 

“We are happy to have reached and agreement with Amgen that will build on the important research and development accomplished to date,” Alantos’s CEO Keith E. Dionne said in a statement.

 

Shares of Amgen were down 32 cents, or less than 1 percent, at $57.29 at market close Wednesday.