THOUSAND OAKS, Calif., and
SEATTLE, April 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Amgen
(NASDAQ:AMGN) and Adaptive Biotechnologies (NASDAQ:ADPT) today
announced a collaboration aimed at helping address the COVID-19
pandemic. The companies will combine expertise to discover and
develop fully human neutralizing antibodies targeting SARS-CoV-2 to
potentially prevent or treat COVID-19. The mutually exclusive
collaboration brings together Adaptive's proprietary immune
medicine platform for the identification of virus-neutralizing
antibodies with Amgen's expertise in immunology and novel antibody
therapy development. Given the rapidly rising incidence of COVID-19
around the world, the companies will begin work immediately and
finalize financial details and terms in the coming weeks.
Neutralizing antibodies defend healthy cells by interfering with
the biological function of an invading virus. These antibodies may
be used therapeutically to treat someone currently fighting the
disease and can be given to people who have heightened risk of
exposure to SARS-CoV-2, such as healthcare workers.
"Our strong history of collaboration with Adaptive gives us the
ability to immediately mobilize our combined resources to help
address the urgency in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic. After
swiftly obtaining viral gene sequences from hundreds of patients,
Amgen was motivated to use these insights and quickly pair
them with our drug development and manufacturing
capabilities. Working with Adaptive and using their
viral-neutralizing antibody platform will expedite our ability to
bring a promising new medicine into clinical trials as quickly as
possible," said Robert A. Bradway,
chairman and chief executive officer at Amgen.
Adaptive will extend its high throughput platform to rapidly
screen the massive genetic diversity of the B cell receptors from
individuals that have recovered from COVID-19. This enables the
identification of tens of thousands of naturally occurring
antibodies from survivors of COVID-19 to select those that
neutralize SARS-CoV-2. Amgen will then leverage its world-class
antibody engineering and drug development capabilities to select,
develop and manufacture antibodies designed to bind and neutralize
SARS-CoV-2. deCODE Genetics, a subsidiary of Amgen located in
Iceland, will provide genetic
insights from patients who were previously infected with
COVID-19.
"We are extremely motivated to join forces with our trusted
partner, Amgen, to tackle this global health crisis," said
Chad Robins, chief executive officer
and co-founder of Adaptive Biotechnologies. "This partnership
expands our drug discovery capabilities, demonstrating the power
and versatility of our immune medicine platform."
The two companies have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to
enable the parties to start work immediately and are planning to
execute a Collaboration and License Agreement. Terms of the
agreement are not being disclosed. Both companies aim to accelerate
the development of a potential antibody against COVID-19 as fast as
possible for patients in need.
About Amgen
Amgen is committed to unlocking the
potential of biology for patients suffering from serious illnesses
by discovering, developing, manufacturing and delivering innovative
human therapeutics. This approach begins by using tools like
advanced human genetics to unravel the complexities of disease and
understand the fundamentals of human biology.
Amgen focuses on areas of high unmet medical need and leverages
its biologics manufacturing expertise to strive for solutions that
improve health outcomes and dramatically improve people's lives. A
biotechnology pioneer since 1980, Amgen has grown to be the world's
largest independent biotechnology company, has reached millions of
patients around the world and is developing a pipeline of medicines
with breakaway potential.
For more information, visit www.amgen.com and follow us on
www.twitter.com/amgen.
About Adaptive Biotechnologies
Adaptive
Biotechnologies is a commercial-stage biotechnology company focused
on harnessing the inherent biology of the adaptive immune system to
transform the diagnosis and treatment of disease. We believe the
adaptive immune system is nature's most finely tuned diagnostic and
therapeutic for most diseases, but the inability to decode it has
prevented the medical community from fully leveraging its
capabilities. Our proprietary immune medicine platform reveals and
translates the massive genetics of the adaptive immune system with
scale, precision and speed to develop products in life sciences
research, clinical diagnostics, and drug discovery. We have two
commercial products, and a robust clinical pipeline to diagnose,
monitor and enable the treatment of diseases such as cancer,
autoimmune conditions and infectious diseases. Our goal is to
develop and commercialize immune-driven clinical products tailored
to each individual patient. For more information, please
visit adaptivebiotech.com and follow us on
www.twitter.com/adaptivebiotech.
Amgen Forward-Looking Statements
This communication
contains forward-looking statements that are based on the current
expectations and beliefs of Amgen. All statements, other than
statements of historical fact, are statements that could be deemed
forward-looking statements, including any statements on the
outcome, benefits and synergies of collaborations, or potential
collaborations, with any other company, including Adaptive
Biotechnologies (including statements regarding such
collaboration's ability to discover and develop fully-human
neutralizing antibodies targeting SARS-CoV-2 to potentially prevent
or treat COVID-19), BeiGene, Ltd., or the Otezla®
(apremilast) acquisition, including anticipated Otezla sales growth
and the timing of non-GAAP EPS accretion, as well as estimates of
revenues, operating margins, capital expenditures, cash, other
financial metrics, expected legal, arbitration, political,
regulatory or clinical results or practices, customer and
prescriber patterns or practices, reimbursement activities and
outcomes, effects of pandemics or other widespread health problems
such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on our business, and other
such estimates and results. Forward-looking statements involve
significant risks and uncertainties, including those discussed
below and more fully described in the Securities and Exchange
Commission reports filed by Amgen, including our most recent annual
report on Form 10-K and any subsequent periodic reports on Form
10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K. Unless otherwise noted, Amgen
is providing this information as of the date of this news release
and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking
statements contained in this document as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise.
No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed and actual
results may differ materially from those we project. Our results
may be affected by our ability to successfully market both new and
existing products domestically and internationally, clinical and
regulatory developments involving current and future products,
sales growth of recently launched products, competition from other
products including biosimilars, difficulties or delays in
manufacturing our products and global economic conditions. In
addition, sales of our products are affected by pricing pressure,
political and public scrutiny and reimbursement policies imposed by
third-party payers, including governments, private insurance plans
and managed care providers and may be affected by regulatory,
clinical and guideline developments and domestic and international
trends toward managed care and healthcare cost containment.
Furthermore, our research, testing, pricing, marketing and other
operations are subject to extensive regulation by domestic and
foreign government regulatory authorities. We or others could
identify safety, side effects or manufacturing problems with our
products, including our devices, after they are on the market. Our
business may be impacted by government investigations, litigation
and product liability claims. In addition, our business may be
impacted by the adoption of new tax legislation or exposure to
additional tax liabilities. If we fail to meet the compliance
obligations in the corporate integrity agreement between us and the
U.S. government, we could become subject to significant sanctions.
Further, while we routinely obtain patents for our products and
technology, the protection offered by our patents and patent
applications may be challenged, invalidated or circumvented by our
competitors, or we may fail to prevail in present and future
intellectual property litigation. We perform a substantial amount
of our commercial manufacturing activities at a few key facilities,
including in Puerto Rico, and also
depend on third parties for a portion of our manufacturing
activities, and limits on supply may constrain sales of certain of
our current products and product candidate development. An outbreak
of disease or similar public health threat, such as COVID-19, and
the public and governmental effort to mitigate against the spread
of such disease, could have a significant adverse effect on the
supply of materials for our manufacturing activities, the
distribution of our products, the commercialization of our product
candidates, and our clinical trial operations, and any such events
may have a material adverse effect on our product sales, business
and results of operations. We rely on collaborations with third
parties for the development of some of our product candidates and
for the commercialization and sales of some of our commercial
products. In addition, we compete with other companies with respect
to many of our marketed products as well as for the discovery and
development of new products. Discovery or identification of new
product candidates or development of new indications for existing
products cannot be guaranteed and movement from concept to product
is uncertain; consequently, there can be no guarantee that any
particular product candidate or development of a new indication for
an existing product will be successful and become a commercial
product. Further, some raw materials, medical devices and component
parts for our products are supplied by sole third-party suppliers.
Certain of our distributors, customers and payers have substantial
purchasing leverage in their dealings with us. The discovery of
significant problems with a product similar to one of our products
that implicate an entire class of products could have a material
adverse effect on sales of the affected products and on our
business and results of operations. Our efforts to collaborate with
or acquire other companies, products or technology, and to
integrate the operations of companies or to support the products or
technology we have acquired, may not be successful. A breakdown,
cyberattack or information security breach could compromise the
confidentiality, integrity and availability of our systems and our
data. Our stock price is volatile and may be affected by a number
of events. Our business performance could affect or limit the
ability of our Board of Directors to declare a dividend or our
ability to pay a dividend or repurchase our common stock. We may
not be able to access the capital and credit markets on terms that
are favorable to us, or at all.
Adaptive Forward-Looking Statements
This press release
contains forward-looking statements that are based on management's
beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to
management. All statements contained in this release other than
statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements,
including statements regarding the ability to extend our platform
to identify and select antibodies or other adaptive immune
responses to COVID-19 from samples, the ability to leverage our
intended collaboration with Amgen and any findings arise therefrom
to advance solutions to diagnose, treat and prevent COVID-19, enter
into a definitive collaboration and licensing agreement with Amgen
and fulfill our obligations thereunder, as well as statements
regarding our ability to develop, commercialize and achieve market
acceptance of our current and planned products and services, our
research and development efforts, and other matters regarding our
business strategies, use of capital, results of operations and
financial position, and plans and objectives for future
operations.
In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by
the words "may," "will," "could," "would," "should," "expect,"
"intend," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict,"
"project," "potential," "continue," "ongoing" or the negative of
these terms or other comparable terminology, although not all
forward-looking statements contain these words. These statements
involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause
actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to
be materially different from the information expressed or implied
by these forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and
other factors are described under "Risk Factors," "Management's
Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of
Operations" and elsewhere in the documents we file with the
Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. We caution
you that forward-looking statements are based on a combination of
facts and factors currently known by us and our projections of the
future, about which we cannot be certain. As a result, the
forward-looking statements may not prove to be accurate. The
forward-looking statements in this press release represent our
views as of the date hereof. We undertake no obligation to update
any forward-looking statements for any reason, except as required
by law.
CONTACT: Amgen, Thousand
Oaks
Trish Rowland, 805-447-5631
(media)
Jessica Akopyan,
805-447-0974 (media)
Arvind Sood, 805-447-1060
(investors)
CONTACT: Adaptive Biotechnologies
Beth Keshishian, 917-912-7195
(media)
media@adaptivebiotech.com
Lynn Lewis or Carrie Mendivil, 415-937-5405 (investors)
investors@adaptivebiotech.com
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SOURCE Amgen