美国生物科技制药商Amgen Inc(AMGN)周一宣布，将以4.15亿美元收购人类遗传学研究与分析公司deCODE Genetics。
DeCODE总部位于冰岛首都雷克雅未克。该公司已发现了从心血管疾病到癌症等数十种疾病的遗传风险因素。
此项交易已获得Amgen董事会批准，无需监管批准，预计将于年底前完成。
Amgen总裁兼首席执行长Robert A. Bradway表示，收购deCODE可增强Amgen鉴定、证实目标的能力，从而更有效地治疗疾病。
英文报道：
Terry McGuire
Amgen acquired deCODE for more than its patents, genetic testing business, or drug development projects—although there is plenty of value there. Amgen bought deCODE for its powerhouse research engine—including its talented genomics scientists, tools, and data.
Robert Bradway, president and CEO at Amgen, describes the rationale for the acquisition by stating that deCODE’s “capability will enhance our efforts to identify and validate human disease targets. This fits perfectly with our mission to pursue rapid development of relevant molecules that reach the right disease targets while avoiding investments in programs based on less well-validated targets.”
Since deCODE’s founding as a genomics pioneer in 1996, the company’s CEO, Kari Stefansson, and his team have been steadfast in pursuing the true opportunity to analyze and understand the link between the genome and disease.
Since those early days, deCODE researchers have published over 400 major studies in peer reviewed journals. These studies have then been cited in thousands of other research manuscripts—a true sign of the importance of any work. According to research provided by Thompson Reuters, Kari Stefansson is now among the most-cited authors in the Molecular Biology & Genetics field over the past decade. In just 2012 alone, deCODE published three seminal manuscripts that have received global attention. The first linked the age of the father to the incidence of diseases such as autism and schizophrenia. The second identified a gene mutation that substantially increases the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. The third discovered a mutation that protects against Alzheimer’s and the likely mechanisms for that protection.
With the acquisition of deCODE, Amgen has shown that it recognizes the power of genomics to make the drug development process more effective and productive. Amgen’s leaders know that genomics in drug R&D can lay the foundation of producing truly innovative medicines and technologies. That’s exactly where deCODE will help Amgen, and perhaps we will soon see other pharmaceutical companies follow suit with new genomics R&D initiatives.
