Am­gen snaps up can­cer drug play­er Five Prime, adding PhI­II-ready FGFR2b drug in $2B M&A play

Am­gen is mak­ing a long-await­ed move on the M&A side, buy­ing South San Fran­cis­co-based Five Prime $FPRX for close to $2 bil­lion and adding a slate of new can­cer drugs to the pipeline.

Am­gen is pay­ing $38 a share, putting the deal val­ue at $1.9 bil­lion. The stock closed at $21.26 last night, giv­ing in­vestors a 78% pre­mi­um.

The jew­el in the crown of this deal is be­mar­ituzum­ab, which Am­gen de­scribes as a first-in-class, Phase III-ready an­ti-FGFR2b an­ti­body. Am­gen was drawn to the bar­gain­ing ta­ble by Five Prime’s mid-stage da­ta on gas­tric can­cer, sat­is­fied by PFS and OS da­ta help­ing to val­i­date FGFR2b as a tar­get. Am­gen re­searchers will now ex­pand on the R&D pro­gram in oth­er ep­ithe­lial can­cers, in­clud­ing lung, breast, ovar­i­an and oth­er can­cers.

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