Amgen's $13.4bn Otezla Buy Helps Bristol/Celgene Merger Close By Year-End

Amgen Inc. will add a revenue-generating drug with strong sales growth expectations to its portfolio via the $13.4bn purchase of Celgene Corp.'s Otezla (apremilast), the divestiture of which should pave the way for Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. to close its $74bn acquisition of Celgene by the end of 2019.

Amgen is buying the Otezla revenue stream at a crucial moment when its revenues are being hit by biosimilars and generics for some of its top-selling blockbuster products. (Also see "Amgen's Murdo Gordon On Generating Sales Growth In A Challenging Commercial Year" - Scrip, 26 July, 2019.) The transaction also comes at an important time for Bristol-Myers and Celgene, which need the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and other anti-competition regulators to sign off on their merger. The sale of Celgene's oral PDE4 inhibitor depends on FTC clearance of the Bristol-Celgene deal and the closing of that transaction by the end of this year