Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Amgen Ties With Astellas To Tackle Japan

Thousand Oaks-based biotech Amgen announced today that it has linked with Astellas Pharma, in a deal to reach the Japanese market with new medicines. According to the two, they are in a strategic alliance where they will provide new medicines to address the unmet medical needs of Japanese patients. The two said the first part of the alliance will focus on the co-development and co-commercialization in Japan of five Amgen pipeline medicines, including four biologics and one small molecule. Those biopharmaceuticals are targeted at treatment of cardiovascular and bone diseases and cancer. The companies will also create a Tokyo-based joint venture, Amgen Astellas BioPharma KK. Financial details of the strategic alliance were not disclosed.