Biotech giant Amgen is buying Avidia for $290 million in cash and up to $90 million more in milestone payments. The deal nets Amgen a Phase I product--an inhibitor of interleukin 6 for inflammation and autoimmune diseases--and Avidia's technology in Avimer proteins. As Avidia explains it, its researchers focus on biotherapeutics consisting of single protein chains composed of modular binding domains, like beads on a string. This platform can be used to create multiple, protein-based therapeutics. Each bead is designed to bind to a particular target site, thus increasing the relative amount of the drug where it's most needed and decreasing the amount of the drug where it's not desired, creating more favorable safety profiles
"The Avimer technology is among the most attractive protein-based technologies currently under development," said Roger M. Perlmutter, M.D., Ph.D., Amgen's executive vice president for research and development. "Avimers may have several advantages as therapeutic products in terms of biological activity, tissue distribution, reduced immunogenicity and improved manufacturing efficiencies."
- see the release on the deal