Amgen and Astellas enter into a strategic Alliance for Japanese Market

There are two parts of the strategic alliance

1. The first element of the alliance is a long-term collaboration between the two companies that will focus on the co-development and co-commercialization in Japan of five Amgen pipeline medicines. (Table 1)
2. The second element of the alliance is the establishment of a Tokyo-based joint venture company through which the companies will work together to enable Amgen to rapidly build on-the-ground capabilities in Japan. The joint venture will operate under the name Amgen Astellas BioPharma KK and will be led by Eiichi Takahashi, who will serve as general manager. Additional management roles will be appointed by Amgen and Astellas. The joint venture will be staffed by seconded employees from Astellas, transferred employees from Amgen and newly hired employees. It is expected that the joint venture will start operations on Oct. 1, 2013, and will become a wholly owned Amgen affiliate as soon as 2020 with the long-term collaboration continuing.  Through this strategic alliance with Astellas, Amgen intends to leverage Astellas extensive knowledge of the local market to accelerate development and commercialization of Amgen medicines for patients in Japan.

Table 1

Molecule	Lead Indication	Mode of Action	Development Stage
			Global	Japan
AMG 145	Hyperlipidemia	Anti-PCSK-9 mAb	Phase 3	Phase 2
Romosozumab (AMG 785)	Osteoporosis	Anti-Sclerostin mAb	Phase 3	Phase 2/3
Rilotumumab (AMG 102)	Gastric Cancer	Anti-HGF mAb	Phase 3	Phase 1
AMG 337	Gastric Cancer	MET inhibitor	Phase 1
Blinatumomab (AMG 103)	Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) and Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (NHL)	Anti-CD19 BiTE®	Phase 2