THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. and NEWARK, Calif., July 27, 2021/PRNewswire/ -- Amgen(NASDAQ: AMGN) and Teneobio today announced an agreement under which Amgenwill acquire Teneobio, a privately held, clinical stage biotechnology company developing a new class of biologics called Human Heavy-Chain Antibodies. Under the terms of the agreement, Amgenwill acquire all outstanding shares of Teneobio at closing in exchange for a $900 millionupfront cash payment, as well as future contingent milestone payments to Teneobio equity holders potentially worth up to an additional $1.6 billion in cash.
The acquisition includes Teneobio's proprietary bispecific and multispecific antibody technologies, which will enable significant acceleration and efficiency in the discovery and development of new molecules that have the potential to treat a wide range of important diseases across Amgen's core therapeutic areas. These platforms complement Amgen's existing antibody capabilities with the addition of a heavy-chain only platform that allows a streamlined, sequence-based discovery approach for target binders, as well as Teneobio's novel T-cell engager platform, which expands on Amgen's existing leadership position in bispecific T-cell engagers by providing a differentiated, but complementary, approach to Amgen's current BiTE® platform.