Kirin-Amgen JV To Become Wholly-owned Subsidiary Of Amgen - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Amgen Inc. (AMGN) said that the company and Kirin Holdings (KNBWF.PK, KNBWY.PK) have agreed that Kirin-Amgen, a joint venture between the two companies, will redeem Kirin's shares in the joint venture. As a result, Kirin-Amgen will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amgen.

Under the terms of the agreement, the Kirin-Amgen joint venture will pay $780 million to Kirin. Amgen will make additional payments to Kirin upon the occurrence of certain sales, valued by Amgen at approximately $30 million.

As sole shareholder of Kirin-Amgen, Amgen will own the product rights and remaining cash held by Kirin-Amgen. The transaction is expected to close during either the fourth quarter of 2017 or the first quarter of 2018.

Kirin-Amgen was established in 1984 as a 50-50 joint venture between Amgen and Kirin to fund the global development of Epogen, or epoetin alfa. Over time, the scope of the collaboration was expanded to include Neupogen (filgrastim), Neulasta (pegfilgrastim), Aranesp (darbepoetin alfa), Nplate (romiplostim) and brodalumab.

Kirin-Amgen holds the intellectual property for each of these products and, in exchange for royalty rights, licensed the associated marketing rights in certain Asian countries to Kyowa Hakko Kirin or KHK, Kirin's pharmaceutical subsidiary, and in other territories to Amgen.

Amgen noted that license agreements between Kirin-Amgen and KHK in certain Asian territories will remain in place even after the transaction.