Dark Blue Therapeutics, a British discovery and growth BioTech firm innovating the subsequent technology of precision oncology medicines, has been acquired by US-based world BioTech firm Amgen, in a transaction valued at as much as €718 million ($840 million).
Darkish Blue’s lead candidate DBT 3757 is a first-in-class remedy in IND-enabling research for leukemia, with the potential to ship robust, sturdy single-agent efficacy and act as a protected spine for earlier mixture therapies. Darkish Blue has been supported by buyers Oxford Science Enterprises (OSE), Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) and Evotec.
“Amgen has the experience, sources and dedication to speed up growth of DBT 3757 to deal with sufferers with acute leukemia, together with these that don’t reply to present commonplace therapies. With its world-leading capabilities in oncology and deep expertise in growing, manufacturing, and commercializing novel medicines, we’re assured that Amgen will construct on our pre-clinical work to convey DBT 3757 to the sufferers who urgently want new therapy choices,” feedback Alastair MacKinnon, CEO of Darkish Blue Therapeutics.
In 2025, the European startup ecosystem reveals sustained capital flows into oncology and adjoining BioTech platforms, offering context for Amgen’s acquisition of Darkish Blue Therapeutics.
Notable funding rounds embody Tubulis, which raised €308 million in a Sequence C to advance antibody-drug conjugates for most cancers; Adcytherix, which secured €105 million in a Sequence A to develop novel ADC-based most cancers therapies; and Artios Pharma, which closed a €99 million Sequence D to develop its precision oncology pipeline.
The UK specifically has seen a number of related raises, together with CHARM Therapeutics (€68.5 million for AI-driven drug discovery) and T-Therapeutics (€27.5 million to progress immuno-oncology programmes), putting Darkish Blue inside a nationally energetic funding setting.
Elsewhere in Europe, EU-Startups additionally reported rounds for Hedera Dx in Switzerland (€15 million for precision oncology diagnostics), Adaptam Therapeutics in Spain (€3 million pre-Seed to focus on tumour-associated immune cells), and Lithea in Sweden (€851k for tumour-targeted therapies).
Taken collectively, these bulletins symbolize roughly €627 million in disclosed 2025 funding throughout oncology-focused European startups, situating Darkish Blue’s up-to-€718 million acquisition on the increased finish of sustained funding and strategic curiosity in precision most cancers therapeutics and enabling platforms.
“We lengthen our honest because of all the Darkish Blue group for his or her dedication and laborious work, and to our buyers OSE, BMS, and Evotec, whose invaluable help has made this achievement attainable,” provides MacKinnon.
Based in 2020, Darkish Blue is a drug discovery BioTech firm that leverages most cancers biology insights, from Oxford College, to find and develop modern precision medicines that exploit novel vulnerabilities and dependencies.
Their lead candidate DBT 3757, at present in IND-enabling research, represents a first-in-class therapeutic technique for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), with the potential for producing robust, broad and sturdy responses as an efficient single-agent remedy.
As well as, its beneficial security profile suggests it may function a basis for mixture therapies earlier within the therapeutic course.
Darkish Blue says they’ve been in a position to translate cutting-edge discoveries into beforehand unexploited Achilles-heel vulnerabilities and dependencies in most cancers.
The MLLT 1/3 programme’s scientific basis is rooted in insights from Oxford College and was awarded pre-Seed funding from the ‘LAB282’ initiative.
“Acute myeloid leukemia stays one of the tough cancers to deal with, and we see an pressing want for brand spanking new mechanisms able to altering the trajectory of this illness,” says Jay Bradner, M.D., govt vp of Analysis and Improvement at Amgen.
“This acquisition enhances and extends our analysis in focused protein degradation and leukemia therapeutics, advancing our technique to take a position early in rising medicines for novel therapeutic targets. The adjacency of this programme to our thought of experience in most cancers biology will propel MLLT1/3-targeting medicines to scientific investigation for sufferers going through the difficult analysis of AML,” he provides.
Amgen expects to combine Darkish Blue Therapeutics into its present analysis organisation, additional strengthening the corporate’s early oncology discovery efforts.
Craig Fox, Oxford Science Enterprises Board Consultant, provides: “As early supporters of Darkish Blue, we’re delighted to see the Firm’s lead candidate, DBT 3757, a focused protein degradation therapeutic, attain this vital milestone. From the outset, we believed that focusing on MLLT1/3 represents a first-in-class therapeutic technique for sufferers with AML and ALL, and the progress made to this point has strengthened that conviction.
“The acquisition by Amgen, a world-leading pharmaceutical firm, is a powerful validation of Darkish Blue’s science, group, and imaginative and prescient. We look ahead to seeing this promising remedy advance swiftly into scientific growth and in the end attain sufferers residing with this devastating illness.”
