News Summary: Amgen nabs deCODE Genetics for $415M
AMGEN DEAL: Biotech pioneer Amgen will pay $415 million for Iceland's deCODE Genetics, a leader in using genetic information to find disease risk factors and treatment targets.
THE RATIONALE: Amgen, the world's largest biotech company by revenue, wants to use deCODE's huge database of genetic and medical information on Iceland's population to find targets for diseases linked to genes.
THE NEED: Drug and biotech companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars on testing experimental drugs, most of which ultimately don't work out. They're all trying to find ways to identify the winners and weed out the losers much sooner.