Amgen scored its second sizeable acquisition in two days with its announcement that it will pay $300 million for Alantos Pharmaceuticals [1]. Cambridge, MA-based Alantos' lead drug candidate--ALS 2-0426--is a DPP-IV inhibitor in Phase IIa, a popular approach to treating Type 2 diabetes. Servient is the development partner on the program. An acquisition-hungry Amgen snapped up Ilypsa yesterday [2] for $420 as it takes out its check book to buy up new drug candidates.

"We also intend to pursue the MMP program with the hope of bringing a novel, disease modifying therapy into the clinic for osteoarthritis," said Roger M. Perlmutter, M.D., Ph.D., Amgen's executive vice president for research and development.

- check out the release [3] on the deal

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