Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based Amgen will purchase a 4.5 percent stake in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals and work with the Pasadena, Calif.-based drugmaker to develop gene-silencing drugs to treat heart disease.
Here are four things to know about the collaboration.
- Arrowhead is working to perfect ribonucleic acid interference (RNAi), a process intended to silence targeted genes to prevent the production of disease-causing proteins. Current cancer biologics, like monoclonal antibodies, bind to disease-causing proteins to inactivate them.
- Amgen will give Arrowhead a $35 million up front payment and invest $21.5 million in its stock. Arrowhead will also be eligible for further milestone and equity payments of up to $617 million.
- Under one agreement, Amgen will acquire an exclusive global license for Arrowhead's preclinical RNAi development program. Through another agreement, Amgen will receive an option for an exclusive global license of an RNAi drug intended to treat an unspecified cardiovascular target.
- In both agreements, Amgen will hold responsibility for clinical development and commercialization.
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