Amgen to acquire US/German biotech firm

Adding to the strong start this year for M&A activity in the Pharma/Biotech sector, USA-based Amgen (Nasdaq: AMGN), the world’s largest independent biotechnology company, says it has entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire Micromet (Nasdaq: MITI), a biotechnology company founded in Germany with its R&D center in Munich and headquarters in Rockville, Maryland, for $11 per share in cash – a near 33% premium to its closing price on Wednesday, for a transaction value of around $1.16 billion. Yesterday also saw Celgene make a bid for Avila Therapeutics (see separate story).

The bid – which is aimed at expanding Amgen’s oncology franchise as some of its current drugs are seeing sales slow - was unanimously approved by both the Amgen and Micromet boards of directors and the transaction is expected to close in the first quarter.

The two companies are no strangers; last summer Micromet entered a collaboration with Amgen for the research of BiTE antibodies against three undisclosed solid tumor targets, in a deal that could earn the smaller firm as much as 695 million euros ($898 million; The Pharma Letter July 12, 2011). Micromet also has a cancer drug development deal with Germany’s Bayer, worth a potential $429 million (TPL December 2, 2009).