Gilead Sciences Inc. plans to pluck the steadily ripening mid-cap Myogen Inc. for about $2.5 billion, a takeover that would add the Phase III headliner ambrisentan for pulmonary arterial hypertension to Gilead's pipeline, as well as the less celebrated - but potentially at least as valuable - darusentan for resistant high blood pressure. (BioWorld Today)

Avidia Inc.'s multiple-pathway, protein-chain platform charmed Amgen Inc. into a $290 million cash buyout that brings another $90 million in potential milestones for the privately held firm, which put its first drug candidate into the clinic this month. (BioWorld Today)

In an uncommonly structured deal, Elan Corp. plc is backfilling its troubled pipeline with a Phase I drug candidate for Alzheimer's disease, paying Transition Therapeutics Inc. as much as $200 million - $15 million of that amount promised in the next two years - for the small-molecule AZD-103. (BioWorld Today)