At the end of last week, US biotech Amgen officially opened its newest drug substance facility in Holly Springs, North Carolina, US. The opening day also saw the groundbreaking of a further $1 billion expansion at the North Carolina site, announced less than two months ago.
In a move to expand its global biomanufacturing network, US biopharma Amgen is planning to invest $1 billion to build a second drug substance manufacturing facility at its US site in Holy Springs, North Carolina. This brings the company's total planned investment in Holly Springs to more than $1.5 billion, building on its previously announced $550 million commitment.
With their triumphant advance, biosimilars are also setting in motion the usual market mechanisms. Biopharma interest groups warn against the automatic substitution of originator drugs.
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) wants to clear the takeover of Irish biotech company Horizon Therapeutics by pharmaceutical group Amgen. Following concessions by Amgen, the authority is dropping its earlier objections to the $27.8 billion purchase, the FTC announced last Friday.
Six US states – New York, California, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Washington – have joined the Federal Trade Commission's lawsuit to block Amgen's proposed nearly $28 billion acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics.
The US Federal Trade Commission’s lawsuit to potentially block the $27.8 merger of Amgen and Horizon Therapeutics is creating heightened concern in the international biopharma sector.
Reacting to a US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) restraining order, Amgen said it won’t close its $28 billion deal for Horizon until the courts have ruled. The FTC says the buy would allow Amgen to pressure insurers and pharmacy benefit managers into accepting higher prices.
Calling the deal announced late last year an alarming sign for biopharma, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is seeking to block the closing of Amgen’s proposed $28 billion acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics with a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction.
Amgen’s proposed acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics for $28.7 billion, including debt, would be the largest healthcare deal since AstraZeneca’s $39 billion purchase of Alexion in 2021, if it goes ahead. As such, it is under intense scrutiny.
Amgen has agreed to buy Horizon Therapeutics for $28.3 billion including debt, boosting its portfolio of drugs for rare autoimmune and inflammatory diseases and beating rivals Sanofi and Johnson & Johnson, as well as a fourth unnamed company.
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said last week it has budgeted $290 million to stock up on Amgen’s Nplate (romiplostim), a drug primarily used to treat acute radiation sickness in the event of a nuclear emergency.
Amgen is beefing up its inflammatory diseases portfolio with an agreement to buy US biopharma ChemoCentryx for roughly $3.7 billion. The deal gives Amgen access to vasculitis treatment Tavneos.
US biotech Amgen is planning to spend $550 million on building a new biologics manufacturing plant in Holly Springs, Wake County in North Carolina. Construction is scheduled to start in December with completion estimated for late 2024. The facility is anticipated to provide up to 355 full-time jobs in the region by 2029, including engineers, technicians, and quality, management and administrative roles.
US biopharma Amgen has agreed to buy privately held clinical-stage biotech Teneobio in a deal worth up to $2.5 billion. The acquisition will expand Amgen’s antibody development capabilities for drugs to treat cancer and other diseases in the firm’s core therapeutic areas.
Amgen is to buy Five Prime Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotech focused on developing immuno-oncology and targeted cancer therapies, for about $1.9 billion. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the second quarter, when a wholly owned subsidiary of Amgen will merge with Five Prime.
