In August 2013, Amgen - itself also an SBIR firms in its early days - acquired Onyx for c.$9.2B reportedly to give itself a strategic presence in the lucrative market for cancer drugs. Onyx had spun out of Chiron (also SBIR-involved) in 1992 to develop R&D stage cancer products based on ras oncogenes, GAP signalling proteins and tumor suppressor genes, focusing on genes or proteins which regulate the growth of cancer cells, Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is engaged in the discovery and development of novel cancer therapies utilizing two technology platforms, small molecules that inhibit the proteins involved in excess growth signaling, and therapeutic viruses that selectively replicate in cells with cancer-causing genetic mutations. In collaboration with Bayer Pharmaceuticals Corporation Onyx was developing a novel small molecule compound, BAY 43-9006, . Utilizing its proprietary virus technology, the Company was developing ONYX-411, a second-generation product that targets cancers with abnormal function of the retinoblastoma tumor-suppressor gene, and is developing Armed Therapeutic Virus products.
