Johnson & Johnson to buy Ambrx for $2bn

Johnson & Johnson said on Monday that it has agreed to buy clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company Ambrx for around $2bn.

Ambrx is advancing a focused portfolio of clinical and preclinical programs designed to optimise efficacy and safety of its candidate therapeutics in multiple cancer indications.

J&J said the planned acquisition presents a distinct opportunity for it to design, develop and commercialise targeted oncology therapeutics.

It explained that Ambrx’s proprietary antibody drug conjugates(ADC) technology incorporates the advantages of highly specific targeting monoclonal antibodies securely linked to a potent chemotherapeutic payload to achieve targeted and efficient elimination of cancer cells without the prevalent side-effects typically associated with chemotherapy.

"Building on a legacy of innovation in oncology and in prostate cancer, J&J scientists intend to work with Ambrx researchers, accelerating the Phase 1/2 APEX-01 study (NCT04662580) of ARX517 in advanced prostate cancer, while progressing a pipeline of novel ADC product candidates," it said.