Amgen/Abgenix: All About a Drug

Amgen is using its cash to buy near-term products-the fundamental reason behind its purchase of Abgenix. Indeed, the irony to this transaction is that while the promise of genomics generated the money Abgenix needed to stay alive, the product that ultimately made Abgenix's fortune is an antibody to an entirely pre-genomic target, the fourth in its target class to make it to market, and the second antibody to do so.