Amgen to Buy Five Prime Therapeutics for $1.9 Billion

Amgen has agreed to acquire Five Prime Therapeutics, a South San Francisco biotech company, for $1.9 billion, a deal that will net the biopharma titan a pipeline that includes a promising investigational gastric cancer drug.

As part of the acquisition, Amgen will obtain bemarituzumab, an anti-FGFR2b antibody that is ready to enter phase 3 clinical trials. The drug holds promise in treating gastric cancer and its phase 2 study in frontline advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancer demonstrated positive results.

Specifically, the phase 2 trial found that, in the frontline treatment of advanced gastric or GEJ cancer patients, the drug showed clinically meaningful improvements in progression-free survival, overall survival and overall response rate.