Ipsen to acquire blood-cancer specialist Kartos Therapeutics for $450 million upfront

Ipsen announced it will purchase Kartos Therapeutics, a company focused on blood cancers.

The transaction includes a $450 million cash payment at closing, with the possibility of up to $1.75 billion in total consideration.

The deal gives Ipsen control of Kartos’s MDM2 protein-targeting drug candidate, which the French group originally licensed from Amgen in 2016.

The acquisition expands Ipsen’s oncology pipeline and signals continued investment in targeted therapies.