Amgen Shares Rise 6% on News of Drug Acquisition

Amgen Inc. shares rose 6% after the world’s biggest biotechnology company said it acquired a prostate cancer drug that’s in the final stages of human testing.

Amgen shares rose $4.13 to close at $74.63 on Nasdaq. Amgen announced the acquisition from closely held Praecis Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Cambridge, Mass., after Wednesday’s close of U.S. stock markets.

It’s Thousand Oaks-based Amgen’s first acquisition since 1997 and would bolster its late-stage pipeline of new drug candidates.

The drug, called abarelix, could one day claim about half of a roughly $1-billion U.S. market for prostate cancer drugs, analysts said.

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.