Amgen

• 1. Introduction

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  The name AMGen is shorthand for Applied Molecular Genetics, the label the company carried when it was founded in Thousand Oaks, California, in April 1980. The shortened name stuck, even though the original one described a science project more than a business. A handful of venture capitalists funded it, and it had no product to sell. In 2020 the same company was added to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and it ranks 18th on a list of the largest biomedical companies by revenue. How did a small lab bet on gene science become that? Which proteins did its researchers learn to copy, and which of them became medicines? And what does a company this size do with its money, its factories and its legal troubles?

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• 2. Founders and Leaders

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  Winston Salser, a molecular biologist at UCLA, was the person who recruited Amgen's first scientific advisory board. His list ran to eight names: Norman Davidson, Leroy Hood, Arnold Berk, John Carbon, Robert Schimke, Arno Motulsky, Marvin H. Caruthers and Dave Gibson. Their brief was recombinant DNA technology, with recombinant human insulin as an early target.

  In October 1980, George Rathmann was named the company's first president and chief executive officer. He led it through its public debut on the 17th of June 1983. The initial public offering sold two million common shares and raised nearly $40 million.

  Gordon Binder took over as chief executive in October 1988, succeeding Rathmann. Kevin W. Sharer followed Binder in 2000. Robert A. Bradway became president and chief executive in May 2012, after Sharer retired, and inherited a company more than three decades old.

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• 3. Blood Builders

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  In 1983, after more than two years of effort, a team led by Fu-Kuen Lin found and cloned the gene for erythropoietin. This protein, made in the kidney, tells the body to produce red blood cells. Lin's team turned it into what became Epogen, also known as epoetin alfa.

  In June 1984, Amgen struck a joint venture with Kirin Brewery Company. Kirin received the rights to Epogen in Japan, while Amgen kept United States distribution. Both sides could expand into other countries. A 2017 arrangement called Kirin-Amgen replaced that venture and bought out the Kirin Holdings stake. The FDA approved Epogen in 1989 as the first recombinant human erythropoietin product.

  Another Amgen researcher, Larry Souza, led a team that cloned granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, known as G-CSF. That work produced Neupogen, or filgrastim. In February 1991, the FDA approved it to prevent infections in cancer patients whose immune systems were weakened by chemotherapy.

  In 1994, Amgen became the fifth company to win the National Medal of Technology and Innovation from the Department of Commerce. The award recognized medicines for kidney and cancer patients. Around then, researcher Steve Elliott and his team attached extra sugar molecules to erythropoietin so that it lingered longer in the body. The result was Aranesp, or darbepoetin alfa. The FDA approved it in September 2001, and it still earned $1.4 billion in 2025. Neulasta, aimed at neutropenia, won approval in 2002.

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• 4. Bones, Hearts and Lungs

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  A 61% drop in vertebral fractures is the number that accompanied Prolia's debut. The FDA approved the protein drug in June 2010 for post-menopausal osteoporosis. In clinical trials it also cut the risk of hip fractures by 40%. In November 2010, the FDA approved Xgeva, which uses the same active ingredient, denosumab. Xgeva prevents complications when cancer spreads to bone from solid tumors. Trial patients were mostly people with breast or prostate cancer. Together the two drugs brought in $6.6 billion in 2025.

  Romosozumab, sold as Evenity, is a second osteoporosis medicine. Japan approved it in January 2019, and the FDA followed in April. It earned $2.1 billion in 2025.

  Repatha, or evolocumab, treats high cholesterol. The FDA approved it in August 2015, and it brought in $3.0 billion in 2025. Aimovig, for migraine headaches, was approved in May 2018.

  Otezla treats psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis and earned $2.3 billion in 2025. In December 2021, the FDA approved it for adults with plaque psoriasis of any severity.

  Tezspire, developed with AstraZeneca, targets severe asthma. In November 2020, a Phase 3 trial showed a statistically significant drop in asthma attacks. The FDA approved the drug in December 2021. In March 2025, new data showed strong results against chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps.

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• 5. Cancer Targets

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  In November 2014, Amgen halted every trial of rilotumumab in advanced gastric cancer. One study had found more deaths among patients who received the drug with chemotherapy than among those who got chemotherapy alone.

  That same December, the FDA approved Blincyto, or blinatumomab, for acute lymphoblastic leukemia. It earned $1.6 billion in 2025. In September 2016, Amgen bought the rights to a Phase I compound from Boehringer Ingelheim, a bispecific T-cell engager now called AMG 420, to treat multiple myeloma. Kyprolis, or carfilzomib, earned $1.4 billion in 2025. Vectibix, a monoclonal antibody for colon cancer, was approved in 2006 and earned $1.2 billion in 2025. Imlygic, approved in October 2015, treats melanoma that returns after surgery.

  The drug that made the biggest headlines was sotorasib. In September 2019, the FDA gave it fast track status for metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer with the KRAS G12C mutation. In October 2020, a Phase 2 study called CodeBreaK 100 reported positive results in 126 patients whose earlier treatments had failed. The FDA granted breakthrough therapy designation that December.

  In May 2021, sotorasib won accelerated approval under the brand name Lumakras. It was the first approved targeted therapy for tumors with any KRAS mutation. Europe and Japan approved it in January 2022. In September 2022, late-stage data showed the pill beating chemotherapy. KRAS is among the most common mutations in cancers. The list price at approval was $17,900 per month.

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• 6. Deals and Alliances

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  Horizon Therapeutics, a specialist in rare disease drugs, cost Amgen $27.8 billion when it was acquired in October 2023. It was the largest deal in a long run of purchases. In October 2022, Amgen paid $3.7 billion in cash for ChemoCentryx, maker of Tavneos, a treatment for a rare disease called ANCA-associated vasculitis. In April 2021, it bought Five Prime Therapeutics and its lead candidate bemarituzumab for $1.9 billion. A month earlier it had paid $720 million for Rodeo Therapeutics.

  The acquisition list stretches back decades. Synergen joined in 1994, Immunex in 2002, Tularik in 2004, and Onyx Pharmaceuticals in 2013. Otezla itself was bought in 2019. In 2013, Amgen spun off NextCODE genetics.

  Partnerships added reach without full purchases. In January 2022, Amgen announced a collaboration with Generate Biomedicines worth up to $1.9 billion. It launched a deal with Arrakis Therapeutics on RNA degrader therapies. In February 2022, Plexium joined to pursue targeted protein degradation. In October 2021, Neumora Therapeutics signed on for brain disease research. In June 2021, Kyowa Kirin agreed to co-develop an atopic dermatitis treatment.

  In August 2020, the pandemic created a different kind of alliance. Amgen, Takeda and AbbVie announced the first patients in the I-SPY COVID trial. It tested Otezla and two other medicines in hospitalized patients needing high-flow oxygen. In September 2020, Eli Lilly and Amgen agreed to a global manufacturing collaboration for COVID-19 antibody therapies.

  About 80% of Amgen's revenue comes from three U.S. drug wholesalers: McKesson Corporation, Cencora and Cardinal Health. The company is ranked 134th on the Fortune 500 and 202nd on the Forbes Global 2000.

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• 7. Courts and Causes

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  In December 2012, Amgen pleaded guilty and agreed to pay $150 million in criminal penalties. It also paid $612 million to resolve 11 related whistleblower complaints. The Department of Justice said Amgen had marketed Aranesp for off-label uses at doses the FDA had rejected or never approved.

  Patents brought a different fight. In July 2020, a federal appeals court upheld two Amgen patents covering Enbrel and the methods for making it. The court affirmed an August 2019 ruling from a New Jersey district court and rejected an attempt by Sandoz to invalidate them. Enbrel, which treats autoimmune diseases, earned $2.2 billion in 2025.

  In May 2025, a jury awarded Regeneron $406 million. The jury found that Amgen used anticompetitive practices to boost sales of Repatha at the expense of Regeneron's Praluent.

  The Amgen Foundation has also given money to education. In October 2017, it pledged $3 million to Khan Academy for free online biology lessons, and added $3 million in July 2020. In January 2020, it and Harvard University launched the LabXchange science platform. In March 2020, it committed up to $12.5 million to COVID-19 relief. In November 2021, a $2 million grant helped the CDC Foundation launch the EmPOWERED Health Program for cancer treatment decisions. In December 2023, Amgen became title sponsor of the Irish Open in golf.

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• 8. Factories and Future

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  A plant in Puerto Rico, opened in March 1993, later became Amgen's flagship manufacturing site. More sites followed across the world. In March 2011, the company acquired a facility near Dublin, Ireland. It opened an affiliate in China in 2013. Singapore's next-generation biomanufacturing facility finished construction in November 2014.

  In July 2018, work began on a plant at the West Greenwich, Rhode Island campus. In April 2020, Amgen K.K. became a wholly owned affiliate in Japan. Construction in New Albany, Ohio, started in November 2021, and Holly Springs, North Carolina, got its groundbreaking in March 2022. In February 2022, the company issued its first green bond. In April 2025, Amgen announced a $900 million expansion at New Albany.

  In November 2023, Amgen announced a partnership with Amazon Web Services. The aim was to use artificial intelligence to help discover and create medicines. Amazon SageMaker would support manufacturing.

  The pipeline holds 17 programs in Phase III, eight in Phase II and 19 in Phase I. In September 2025, Amgen announced plans for a $600 million research center in Thousand Oaks. The best-known candidate is MariTide, an anti-obesity medication given by injection once a month. Two late-stage trials began in March 2025. In June 2025, the company said it had to lower the dose to avoid side effects such as vomiting. Patients who stayed on the drug lost about 20% of their body weight.

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