Amgen Inc. (AMGN) announced Tuesday that it's acquiring Dark Blue Therapeutics, a biotech company focused on precision oncology medicines, in a deal valued at up to $840 million when you factor in upfront cash and future milestone payments.

Here's what makes this interesting: Dark Blue isn't some late-stage company with drugs already on pharmacy shelves. It's early innings stuff, which tells you something about where Amgen sees the future of cancer treatment heading.

What Amgen Is Actually Buying

The crown jewel here is DBT 3757, Dark Blue's lead drug candidate currently in IND-enabling studies. That's the preclinical work you need to complete before filing an Investigational New Drug application with regulators—essentially the on-ramp to human trials.

DBT 3757 targets two aggressive blood cancers: acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Leukemia is cancer of the blood-forming tissues like bone marrow, which causes your body to churn out abnormal white blood cells that crowd out the healthy ones your body actually needs.

Dark Blue has attracted serious backing from heavy hitters including Oxford Science Enterprises, Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY), and Evotec SE (EVO). When you've got those kinds of investors writing checks, you're probably onto something worthwhile.

Why This Fits Amgen's Strategy

Amgen plans to fold Dark Blue into its existing research operations, giving its early-stage oncology discovery efforts a shot in the arm. The technology here centers on targeted protein degradation—basically teaching cells to take out the trash proteins that cause problems.

Jay Bradner, Amgen's executive vice president of Research and Development, laid it out clearly: "This acquisition complements and extends our research in targeted protein degradation and leukemia therapeutics, advancing our strategy to invest early in rising medicines for novel therapeutic targets. The adjacency of this program to our considered expertise in cancer biology will propel MLLT1/3-targeting medicines to clinical investigation for patients facing the challenging diagnosis of AML."

The timing is notable. Just last month, the FDA approved Amgen's Uplinza (inebilizumab-cdon) for generalized myasthenia gravis, a rare muscle disorder. The company is clearly in execution mode across its pipeline.

Stock Performance: Amgen shares climbed 2.89% to $339.71 on Wednesday, nearing its 52-week high of $346.38.