Amgen and Rodeo Therapeutics Corporation have reached an agreement where Amgen will acquire the privately held biopharmaceutical company Rodeo.
Amgen will acquire all outstanding shares of Rodeo in exchange for a $55 million upfront payment as well as future contingent milestone payments potentially worth up to an additional $666 million in cash. The transaction has been approved by the shareholders and the Board of Directors of Rodeo.
Rodeo is based in Seattle and develops small-molecule therapies designed to promote regeneration and repair of multiple tissues. According to Amgen, Rodeo's 15-PGDH program is a strategic fit with Amgen's inflammation portfolio.
"The enzyme 15-PGDH plays a key role in many disease-relevant processes such as stem cell self-renewal and epithelial barrier repair," said Raymond Deshaies, Ph.D., senior vice president of global research at Amgen. "Given the encouraging preclinical data to date, we are excited about the opportunity to develop a novel therapy with potential in a range of important inflammatory disease indications."
Cooley acted as legal advisor to Rodeo and Gunderson Dettmer acted as legal advisor to Amgen on this transaction.
Read the Amgen statement