By Sherri Oslick —

On Wednesday, Amgen Inc. of Thousand Oaks, CA announced that it would acquire drug company Alantos Pharmaceuticals of Cambridge, MA for $300 million cash.  Alantos is a private company developing small molecule drugs for diabetes and inflammatory diseases.  Following acquisition, Alantos will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Amgen.

Alantos has six product candidates in various stages of development.  Its lead candidate, ALS 2-0426, a DPP-IV inhibitor for the treatment of type II diabetes, is currently in Phase 2a clinical trials.  Alantos’ patent portfolio includes at least two published U.S. patent applications.