The acquisition is centered on Dark Blue Therapeutics’ small-molecule degrader of the MLLT1 and MLLT3 proteins, which is being tested for acute myeloid leukemia.
2025 was relatively quiet on the dealmaking front for Amgen, but the pharma started 2026 off with a buy, snapping up England-based Dark Blue Therapeutics in a bid to beef up its cancer pipeline.
The companies have not disclosed a detailed financial breakdown of the acquisition, with Amgen in its Tuesday news release noting only that it could reach up to $840 million in value. Dark Blue was similarly tight-lipped in its announcement, stating that deal sum covers both the pharma’s upfront commitment and future milestone payments.
It also remains unclear when the parties expect to close the transaction. After completion, however, Amgen plans to fold Dark Blue into its existing research organization to bolster its early-stage cancer efforts.
The centerpiece of Tuesday’s takeover is Dark Blue’s lead asset DBT 3757, an investigational small-molecule drug that targets both the MLLT1 and MLLT3 proteins, which, according to the biotech’s website, play a role in the expression of several genes, including potential cancer drivers. The drug degrades MLLT1 and 3, opening up a potential treatment alternative for patients with leukemias and solid cancers, including those resistant to menin inhibitors.
DBT 3757 is currently in pre-clinical development and is undergoing IND-enabling studies.
“We see an urgent need for new mechanisms capable of changing the trajectory” of acute myeloid leukemia, Jay Bradner, executive vice president of R&D at Amgen, said in a prepared statement. The Dark Blue acquisition, “complements and extends our research in targeted protein degradation and leukemia therapeutics.”
This is familiar molecular territory for Amgen, which entered the hot protein degradation space in early 2022 when it pledged up to $500 million in a partnership with Plexium to discover and develop novel molecular glues for cancer and other diseases. Weeks earlier, the pharma dove into a similar degrader deal with Arrakis Therapeutics—but this time for molecules that target RNA instead of proteins. The Arrakis agreement included a $75 million upfront payment plus undisclosed milestones.
Aside from DBT 3757, Tuesday’s acquisition will give Amgen small molecule blockers of the RNA editing enzyme ADAR1 and the SMO protein. Both of these preclinical programs are being trialed for a variety of cancers.
