china everbright limited to jointly acquire u.s. innovative biotechnology company ambrx
a consortium (the “consortium”) consisting of china everbright limited (“cel”, stock code: 165.hk)’s health care fund, fosun pharma, hopu investments and wuxi pharmatech announced that the consortium has signed a merger agreement pursuant to which the consortium will acquire ambrx inc. (“ambrx”). the transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2015, subject to receipt of certain regulatory approvals and satisfaction of customary closing conditions.
ambrx is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing first-in-class and best-in-class optimized protein therapeutics known as bio-conjugates. its proprietary technology platforms enable attachment of pharmaceutically active molecules to specific sites within proteins more precisely than prior generations of bio-conjugates. ambrx has developed a pipeline of novel product candidates that include antibody drug conjugates, or adcs, bi- and multi-specific drug conjugates and long-acting therapeutic proteins. adcs are expected to be one of the most important areas of monoclonal antibody development, especially in targeted therapies for oncology, an area where ambrx has a strong pipeline. ambrx’s most advanced internally developed product is a site-specific adc targeting her2-positive breast cancer.
in addition to its pipeline, ambrx collaborates with leading pharmaceutical companies, including bristol-myers squibb, merck, and eli lilly, on a series of projects including adcs-oncology, bi-specific drug conjugates and long-acting therapeutic proteins. ambrx’s most advanced collaboration product candidate in human health is arx618, a long-acting fibroblast growth factor 21 for type 2 diabetes, for which collaboration partner bristol-myers squibb is conducting phase 2 clinical trials in the united states. to date, collaborations have provided ambrx with over a hundred million us dollars in funding.
cel said, “this collaboration brings together resources from leading china-based pharmaceutical enterprises and leading u.s.-based innovators in biologics development, together with the financial resources and networks from cel, which will result in a great synergy. upon completion of the acquisition, ambrx will obtain quality resources from its chinese partners, so as to further advance the technical innovation of their research center based in the u.s., and to establish a global product development center based in china. we believe that, with the support of the cooperation partners, ambrx’s business will expand rapidly in china.”
