JP Morgan Reiterates Neutral on Amgen

JP Morgan remains Neutral-rated won Amgen

following the company's acquisition of KAI Pharmaceuticals for $315 million in cash. JP Morgan says, "This morning, Amgen announced the acquisition of KAI Pharmaceuticals for $315M in cash. KAI's lead candidate, KAI-4169, is a long-acting, peptide agonist of the calcium sensing receptor (CaSR) and is being developed for the treatment of SHPT in hemodialysis (

) patients (phase 3 planning under way). …Amgen believes that there is still an unmet need in SHPT, despite nearly 40% market share for Sensipar. We note that IP for Sensipar expires in 2018 in the US and 2015 in Europe, so KAI-4169 could provide long-term inroads in the SHPT market for Amgen. Overall, the deal does have strategic synergies, in our view. However, we believe most meaningful catalysts for AMGN are weighted towards 2H12/2013, outside of Xgeva BMP PDUFA (which we are not expecting a label expansion." AMGN closed at $67.02 a share yesterday.