Amgen buys biopharmaceutical firm Avidia

Amgen, the American pharmaceutical company, has agreed to acquire Avidia, a company that discovers and develops compounds from a new class of therapy, called Avimer proteins.

For a lump sum of $290 million (115 million pounds) and a further $90 million dependent on reaching certain milestones, Avidia will become a subsidiary of Amgen, which will inherit Avidia’s lead candidate, an interleukin-6 inhibitor in phase I clinical trials.

The drug, if approved, will able to treat inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, Amgen claims.

The company’s executive vice president for research and development, Roger M Perlmutter, said that Avimer technology “is among the most attractive” protein-based research operations currently under development, as they have “several advantages” as therapies, including reduced immunogenicity.

Peter Van Vlasselaer, Avidia’s chief executive officer, remarked: “Amgen’s abundant resources and expertise will enable us to develop our technology and clinical programs to their full capacity.”

He added that Avidia was looking forward to becoming part of the “world’s leading biotech company”.

Among other anti-inflammatory drugs, Amgen sells Kineret, used in the UK for treating arthritis where methotrexate has failed to alleviate symptoms. In August, new trial results for the drug were publish which showed that it is also effective in combating neonatal-onset multisystem inflammatory disease.