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Publish Date : 28-Aug-2013

MedImmune has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire US-based, Amplimmune. MedImmune is a global biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca.

US-based, Amplimmune is a private biologics company focused on developing novel therapeutics in cancer immunology.

With this acquisition, MedImmune's oncology pipeline is to bolster MedImmune's oncology pipeline by getting multiple early-stage assets for its immune-mediated cancer therapy (IMT-C) portfolio, constituting AMP-514, an anti-programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) monoclonal antibody (mAb).

Presently, AMP-514 is in late-stage pre-clinical development with the aim of an investigational new drug (IND) filing before the end of 2013. Other Amplimmune assets include multiple preclinical molecules targeting the B7 pathways. MedImmune's oncology research is focused on IMT-C, a promising therapeutic approach that may lead to durable and prolonged response rates across a range of cancer types. IMT-Cs are being designed to empower the immune system to counteract the tactics employed by cancer cells to avoid detection and attack the body.

100 % of Amplimmune's shares for an initial consideration of $225 million and deferred consideration of up to $275 million based on reaching predetermined development milestones would eb purchased by the MedImmune under the terms of the agreement.

As per Dr Bahija Jallal, executive vice president, MedImmune, "MedImmune's focus on harnessing the power of the patient's own immune system to fight cancer will be complemented by Amplimmune's innovative work in this area. It will allow us to strengthen our arsenal of potential cancer therapies. We are excited to be working with the Amplimmune team to help find new treatments to address areas of unmet medical need."

MedImmune is constructing one of the most comprehensive programmes in IMT-C, with its clinical stage programmes – tremelimumab, anti-OX40 mAb and MEDI-4736 (anti-PD-L1 mAb) - and a robust pre-clinical pipeline.

With the acquisition of Amplimmune technology and pipeline, it would importantly toughen the AstraZeneca and MedImmune portfolio, enabling the pursuit of the most effective data-driven combinations of IMT-C molecules as well as combinations with highly targeted small molecules. Because of the complexity of cancer biology, combination therapies have the potential to be one of the most effective ways of treating this disease.

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