Monday, November 15, 2004

Amgen Creates $100M VC Arm

Thousand Oaks-based Amgen announced Friday that it has created a new venture capital fund, Amgen Ventures, focused on biotechnology investments. Amgen said that the fund, with an initial commitment of $100M, will invest in early stage biotechnology companies developing human therapeutics. The new venture firm will be based in San Diego, and also leverage Amgen sites in Seattle, San Francisco, Thousand Oaks, and Boston. Amgen said that investments will primarily be in areas of current therapeutic interest of Amgen, but that it will also invest in companies with potential to address emerging therapeutic interests.