Amgen has acquired Dezima Pharma, a biotechnology company developing drugs to treat cardiovascular disease from Forbion Capital for as much as $1.6 billion.
 
Dezima was founded in 2012 by Prof. John Kastelein, Professor of Medicine at the Department of Vascular Medicine at the Academic Medical Center of the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Amgen gains its TA-8995 oral, once-daily CETP inhibitor in development for use in patients with mild dyslipidemia. TA-8995, both as monotherapy and on top of statins, caused significant decrease of LDL and simultaneous increase of cholesterol efflux capacity.
 
Sander Slootweg, Forbion’s managing partner and chairman of Dezima, said, “Dezima is the poster child of a successful modern start-up company. Several of our team and advisors, including Prof. John Kastelein, filled critical management positions, such as interim chief executive officer, chief financial officer and project management. Xention Ltd, one of our UK portfolio companies, designed and executed the required pre-clinical studies and optimized the manufacturing of the product.” Mr. Slootweg added, “Today’s acquisition and the value that Amgen has set on the company, validates our belief in the team and the science. Dezima will be a great fit for Amgen and complements its other products targeting high cholesterol.”
 
“There has been an auspicious coming together of key elements leading up to this acquisition by Amgen: the combination of great chemistry by MTPC which designed TA-8995, our skilled and experienced pre-clinical and clinical development team led by Dr. John Ford and Dr. Patrick Round in Cambridge (UK) coupled with smart capital provided by Forbion, NSV and BGV,” said John Kastelein, chief scientific officer and founder of Dezima. “I am proud to be part of this exceptional team and company, and I now look forward to working with Amgen to speed this highly promising product to market and to patients as soon as we can.”