Amgen collaborating with Adaptive to create COVID-19 medicine
Thousand Oaks-based biotech giant Amgen announced April 2 that it is collaborating with Adaptive Biotechnologies to discover and develop antibodies that can be used to prevent or treat COVID-19.
Amgen shares gained 4 percent to $205.88 as of 10:25 a.m and Adaptive’s stock was up 0.8 percent to $27.72. Year-to-date, Amgen’s stock is down 14 percent, shares of Adaptive have dropped 8 percent, and the S&P 500 has tumbled 23 percent.
Financial terms of the exclusive collaboration will be finalized “in the coming weeks,” the companies said.
“Working with Adaptive and using their viral-neutralizing antibody platform will expedite our ability to bring a promising new medicine into clinical trials as quickly as possible,” Robert Bradway, Amgen’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement.