Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. has been a

biopharmaceutical A biopharmaceutical, also known as a biological medical product, or biologic, is any pharmaceutical drug product manufactured in, extracted from, or semisynthesized from biological sources. Different from totally synthesized pharmaceuticals, t ...

company headquartered in

South San Francisco South San Francisco is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States, located on the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area. The city is colloquially known as "South City". The population was 66,105 at the 2020 cens ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. The company developed and marketed medicines for the treatment of cancer. Onyx was founded in 1992 by Kevin J. Kinsella and Frank McCormick Ph.D., FRS. McCormick served as the chief scientific officer until 1998, while Kinsella was the firm's

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the group ...

. In 2009, the company acquired Proteolix, Inc., a private biotechnology company, for $276 million in cash plus additional milestone payments. In January 2012, the company was named "the top biotechnology takeover target in 2012" through an industry survey. Onyx

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

(CEO) Tony Coles had said that Onyx liked its prospects as an independent company and was focused on bringing new therapies to patients. However, at the end of August 2013, Amgen announced it was acquiring Onyx in an agreed $10.4 billion deal. Initial funding for the formation of Onyx came from biotechnology firm

Chiron Corporation Chiron Corporation ( ) was an American multinational biotechnology firm founded in 1981, based in Emeryville, California, that was acquired by Novartis on April 20, 2006. It had offices and facilities in eighteen countries on five continents. ...

(granted a 43% stake in the new company) and venture capital investors:

Avalon Ventures Avalon (; la, Insula Avallonis; cy, Ynys Afallon, Ynys Afallach; kw, Enys Avalow; literally meaning "the isle of fruit r appletrees"; also written ''Avallon'' or ''Avilion'' among various other spellings) is a mythical island featured in the ...

Institutional Venture Partners Institutional Venture Partners (IVP) is a US-based private equity investment firm focusing on later-stage venture capital and growth equity investments. IVP is one of the oldest venture capital firms, founded in 1980. History While Reid W. Denn ...

, J. H. Whitney & Company, and

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Kleiner Perkins, formerly Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), is an American venture capital firm which specializes in investing in incubation, early stage and growth companies. Since its founding in 1972, the firm has backed entrepreneurs ...

. McCormick had been working on cancer treatments at Chiron before he was selected as vice president of research at the newly formed company, leading the company's research program. The acting president of the firm at its inception was Samuel D. Colella, a partner at Institutional Venture Partners (an original Onyx backer).

Products and development

Sorafenib Sorafenib, sold under the brand name Nexavar, is a kinase inhibitor drug approved for the treatment of primary kidney cancer (advanced renal cell carcinoma), advanced primary liver cancer ( hepatocellular carcinoma), FLT3-ITD positive AML and ra ...

, co-developed and co-marketed with

Bayer Bayer AG (, commonly pronounced ; ) is a German multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer's areas of business include pharmaceutic ...

and sold under the trade name Nexavar, is a drug approved in the United States for the treatment of advanced

renal cell carcinoma Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is a kidney cancer that originates in the lining of the proximal convoluted tubule, a part of the very small tubes in the kidney that transport primary urine. RCC is the most common type of kidney cancer in adults, re ...

(kidney cancer) in 2005, and for the treatment of inoperable

hepatocellular carcinoma Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common type of primary liver cancer in adults and is currently the most common cause of death in people with cirrhosis. HCC is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. It occurs in t ...

, the most common form of liver cancer, in 2007. Sorafenib has also been evaluated in other types of cancer, including those of the

thyroid The thyroid, or thyroid gland, is an endocrine gland in vertebrates. In humans it is in the neck and consists of two connected lobes. The lower two thirds of the lobes are connected by a thin band of tissue called the thyroid isthmus. The ...

(as a treatment of last resort) and

breast The breast is one of two prominences located on the upper ventral region of a primate's torso. Both females and males develop breasts from the same embryological tissues. In females, it serves as the mammary gland, which produces and sec ...

(in comparison to capecitabine).

Carfilzomib Carfilzomib, sold under the brand name Kyprolis, is an anti-cancer medication acting as a selective proteasome inhibitor. Chemically, it is a tetrapeptide epoxyketone and an analog of epoxomicin. It was developed by Onyx Pharmaceuticals. The U.S ...

(marketed under the trade name Kyprolis) was approved by the FDA on June 20, 2012, for use in patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least two prior therapies, including treatment with bortezomib and an immunomodulatory therapy, and have demonstrated disease progression on or within 60 days of completion of the last therapy. Carfilzomib is also being evaluated in other stages of multiple myeloma. The most commonly reported adverse reactions (incidence ≥ 30%) are fatigue, anemia, nausea, thrombocytopenia, dyspnea, diarrhea, and pyrexia.

Regorafenib Regorafenib, sold under the brand name Stivarga among others, is an oral multi-kinase inhibitor developed by Bayer which targets angiogenic, stromal and oncogenic receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK). Regorafenib shows anti-angiogenic activity due to i ...

(marketed under the trade name Stivarga), is currently being studied as a potential treatment option in multiple tumor types. On 27 September 2012, the FDA approved regorafenib for the treatment of patients with metastatic

colorectal cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel ...

(CRC) who have been previously treated with fluoropyrimidine-, oxaliplatin, and irinotecan-based chemotherapy, an anti-VEGF therapy, and, if KRAS wild-type, an anti-EGFR therapy. On February 25, 2013, the FDA approved regorafenib in a second indication to treat patients with locally advanced, unresectable or metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) who have been previously treated with imatinib mesylate and sunitinib malate. Regorafenib is a compound developed by Bayer. The most common adverse reactions (>/=20%) are asthenia/fatigue, HFSR, diarrhea, decreased appetite/food intake, hypertension, mucositis, dysphonia, and infection, pain (not otherwise specified), decreased weight, gastrointestinal and abdominal pain, rash, fever, and nausea. In 2011, Bayer entered into an agreement with Onyx under which Onyx will receive a 20 percent royalty on any future global net sales of regorafenib in oncology. Bayer and Onyx jointly promote Stivarga in the United States. In June 2013,

Amgen Inc Amgen Inc. (formerly Applied Molecular Genetics Inc.) is an American multinational biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California. One of the world's largest independent biotechnology companies, Amgen was established in T ...

offered to buy the shares of Onyx Pharmaceuticals for $120 per share, sending the shares up by around 30% after the news was announced. Onyx announced on June 30, 2013, that it rejected the unsolicited proposal from Amgen. The Onyx board has authorized its financial adviser to contact potential suitors. The acquisition was formally announced on 25 August 2013. In July 2014 the company announced the phase III failure of a

- Capecitabine combination trial. The drug combination failed to increase progression free survival of patients with advanced breast cancer.

References

External links

* * * {{cite web , title = OnyxTrials.com , url=http://www.onyxtrials.com/ Companies based in San Francisco Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq Orphan drug companies Life sciences industry 1992 establishments in California American companies established in 1992 Pharmaceutical companies established in 1992