Amgen acquires Five Prime Therapeutics and with it bemarituzumab a proposed treatment for gastric cancer

Amgen and Five Prime Therapeutics a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing immuno-oncology and targeted cancer therapies, announced an agreement under which Amgen will acquire Five Prime Therapeutics for $38.00 per share in cash, representing an equity value of approximately $1.9 billion. This acquisition adds Five Prime's innovative pipeline to Amgen's leading oncology portfolio. Five Prime's lead asset, bemarituzumab, is a first-in-class, Phase III ready anti-FGFR2b antibody with positive data from a randomized, placebo-controlled Phase II study in frontline advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancer. Bemarituzumab targets FGFR2b, which has been found to be overexpressed in approximately 30% of patients with non-HER2 positive gastric cancer, as well as other solid tumors. The bemarituzumab Phase II FIGHT trial demonstrated clinically meaningful improvements in progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS) and overall response rate (ORR) in the frontline treatment of patients with advanced gastric or GEJ cancer. Additional analysis showed a positive correlation between efficacy and expression of FGFR2b on tumor cells, confirming both the importance of the FGFR2b target and the activity of bemarituzumab against this target.