Amgen may be near $10.5-billion deal for Onyx, cancer-drug maker
After being spurned on its first try, biotech giant Amgen Inc. is said to be close to a $10.5-billion deal for cancer drug maker Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc.
In June, the Thousand Oaks company made an unsolicited offer of $120 a share for Onyx, which is prized for its Kyprolis drug designed to fight blood cancers. Onyx rejected Amgen’s initial proposal and started fielding offers from other drug companies.
Both companies declined to comment Sunday. A formal agreement could be announced as early as Monday, or another bidder may emerge.
Amgen’s latest bid may be $125 a share, according to a report in the New York Times. That would represent a 44% premium to Onyx’s closing price of $86.82 on June 28, before Amgen’s initial proposal became public.
At that time in late June, Onyx said the $120-per-share price “proposed by Amgen significantly undervalued Onyx and its prospects.”
Amgen’s top-selling products include arthritis medication Enbrel, osteoporosis drug Prolia and anemia medicines Aranesp and Epogen. The company had annual revenue of $17.3 billion in 2012 and net income of $4.3 billion.
Last year, Onyx, based in South San Francisco, Calif., had revenue of $362.2 million and a net loss of $187.8 million.
The company’s Kyprolis drug has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for multiple-myeloma patients who have received two other prior treatments.
The drug is undergoing clinical trials in Europe as Onyx tries to win broader marketing approval.
Shares of Onyx closed Friday at $116.96 . Amgen shares were off slightly Friday at $105.60.
Like many of its rivals, Amgen has been on the hunt for promising new drugs that could become blockbusters while sales growth slows for some of its core products.
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