Amgen Acquires Alantos for $300 Million

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Amgen Inc. said it has agreed to buy closely held pharmaceuticals Alantos Pharmaceuticals for $300 million.


The acquisition of the Cambridge, Mass.-based company, which employs 45 people, is the second by Amgen this week. Thousand Oaks-based Amgen said on Monday that it plans to buy privately held Ilypsa, which makes drugs for kidney disorders, for $420 million.


These acquisitions come amid concern over health risks associated with the off-label uses of Amgen’s two best-selling drugs; Aranesp, an improved formula of an older anemia drug Epogen. Both drugs are used to treat patients with chronic kidney disease and for cancer patients whose anemia is caused by chemotherapy.


Alantos’s leading drug candidate is ALS 2-0426, which the company hopes will be used to treat type 2 diabetes, Amgen said today in a statement disclosing the agreement.

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