THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. and
SEATTLE, June 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Amgen
(NASDAQ:AMGN) and the University of
Washington's Institute for Protein Design (IPD), which is
revolutionizing its field of science by creating custom-designed
proteins from scratch to improve human health, today announced a
broad collaboration that will cover multiple projects with a goal
of testing new technologies and creating protein-building
approaches that can be broadly applied to the search for new
medicines.
Under the terms of the agreement, Amgen has provided initial
funding for three sponsored research projects that will seek to
apply IPD's de novo design technique to increase the
versatility of traditional protein-based medicines. This will
include optimizing Amgen's repertoire of BiTE®
(bispecific T cell enager) antibodies, with the goal of expanding
the types of tumors that can be targeted with these molecules.
IPD's expertise could also help Amgen to generate antibodies
against very challenging drug targets and to devise new ways to
modulate the activity of the immune system. In the longer-term, the
broad-based collaboration could help shape the discovery and
development of protein-based therapies.
"We're at a technology transition point from modifying what
exists in nature, which has been the traditional approach to
protein engineering, to using first principles to build proteins
from scratch to have exactly the properties you want," said
David Baker, the Henrietta and
Aubrey Davis Endowed Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Washington School of Medicine, a
Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, and the founder and
director of IPD. "We can now design proteins that have specific
functions, and that is where our work starts tying into medicine,
and why we are very excited to be working with Amgen."
"We want to work with IPD in an open-ended way to try to solve
some of the most intractable problems that we face in designing
effective medicines," said Raymond
Deshaies, Ph.D., senior vice president of Global Research at
Amgen. "This is a broad collaboration that will cover multiple
projects, and we are hoping to build strong working relationships
among scientists on both sides. The goal isn't just to solve a few
specific problems but to create approaches that can be applied very
generally across a large suite of problems."
About the Institute for Protein Design
The Institute
for Protein Design, founded in 2012 at UW Medicine in Seattle, is a non-profit research center that
creates custom-designed proteins to improve human health and
address 21st-century challenges in energy, industry and technology.
Proteins are essential molecules that perform vital functions
inside every cell of the human body. Proteins also have
applications outside the body, including as diagnostic tools,
advanced nanomaterials, and more. The Institute's team of 140
faculty, staff, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students together
work to design entirely novel proteins from scratch to create, for
example, safer and more potent vaccines and therapeutics. The
institute has assembled top experts in biochemistry, computer
science, pharmacology, immunology and other basic sciences, as well
as clinical medicine. In 2019, the Institute for Protein Design was
selected as part of The Audacious Project, a successor to the TED
Prize.
For more information, visit www.ipd.uw.edu.
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.
Amgen Forward-Looking Statements
This news release
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 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 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 its 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 Amgen project. Amgen's
results may be affected by its 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 its products and global economic conditions. In
addition, sales of Amgen's 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, Amgen's research, testing, pricing,
marketing and other operations are subject to extensive regulation
by domestic and foreign government regulatory authorities. Amgen or
others could identify safety, side effects or manufacturing
problems with its products, including its devices, after they are
on the market. Amgen's business may be impacted by government
investigations, litigation and product liability claims. In
addition, Amgen's 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 Amgen
routinely obtains patents for its products and technology, the
protection offered by its patents and patent applications may be
challenged, invalidated or circumvented by its competitors, or
Amgen may fail to prevail in present and future intellectual
property litigation. Amgen performs a substantial amount of its
commercial manufacturing activities at a few key facilities,
including in Puerto Rico, and also
depends on third parties for a portion of its manufacturing
activities, and limits on supply may constrain sales of certain of
its current products and product candidate development. In
addition, Amgen competes with other companies with respect to many
of its 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 Amgen's products are supplied by sole third-party
suppliers. Certain of Amgen's distributors, customers and payers
have substantial purchasing leverage in their dealings with Amgen.
The discovery of significant problems with a product similar to one
of Amgen's products that implicate an entire class of products
could have a material adverse effect on sales of the affected
products and on its business and results of operations. Amgen's
efforts to acquire other companies or products and to integrate the
operations of companies Amgen has acquired may not be successful. A
breakdown, cyberattack or information security breach could
compromise the confidentiality, integrity and availability of
Amgen's systems and Amgen's data. Amgen's stock price may be
volatile and may be affected by a number of events. Amgen's
business performance could affect or limit the ability of the Amgen
Board of Directors to declare a dividend or its ability to pay a
dividend or repurchase its common stock. Amgen may not be able to
access the capital and credit markets on terms that are favorable
to it, or at all.
CONTACT: Amgen, Thousand
Oaks
Jessica Akopyan, 805-447-0974
(media)
Kristen Davis, 805-447-3008
(media)
Arvind Sood, 805-447-1060
(investors)
CONTACT: The Institute for Protein Design (IPD), Seattle
Ian Haydon, 530-613-5955 (media)
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SOURCE Amgen