Amgen Partnership to Pursue Coronavirus Treatment

Amgen Inc. and Seattle-based Adaptive Biotechnologies on Thursday announced a strategic partnership to discover and develop a treatment for COVID-19. Financial details will be finalized in the coming weeks, the Thousand Oaks biotech company said in a statement, while work on a treatment begins immediately. Terms of the agreement were not being disclosed. Collaborating researchers will start with “fully-human neutralizing antibodies” that target SARS-CoV-2, combining Adaptive’s immune medicine platform with antibody therapy from Amgen, according to the company’s statement. “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,” Robert Bradway, chief executive of Amgen, said in a statement. “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.” Shares of Amgen (AMGN) closed Thursday up $11.07, or 5.6 percent, to $208.88 on the Nasdaq.