Amgen's Biotech Shopping Spree

01 Jun 2007

It was always a question of when, not if. Amgen needed to do something to provide for its post-EPO future; now the action has started. The big biotech went on a $720 million cash shopping spree in the early part of June, buying first Ilypsa Inc. for $420 million, then swallowing up Alantos Pharmaceuticals for $300 million a couple of days later.

It was always a question of when, not if. Amgen Inc. needed to do something to provide for its post-EPO future; now the action has started. The big biotech went on a $720 million cash shopping spree in the early part of June, buying first Ilypsa Inc. for $420 million, then swallowing up Alantos Pharmaceuticals for $300 million a couple of days later. [See Deal], [See Deal]

Ilypsa, a polymer drug specialist that spun out of the materials science company Symyx Technologies Inc. in 2003 [See...