Careers at Amgen
Mission
Amgen develops, manufactures, and distributes therapeutic products designed to provide sufferers of various ailments and medical conditions – including across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia – with a better quality of life.
History
Amgen was founded in 1980 by venture capitalist William Bowles and several business partners, initially operating under the name Applied Molecular Genetics. The Company took on its current name – a portmanteau of its original name – in 1983.
Amgen quickly established research and development operations. In 1983 it created its first significant product, EPOGEN, which is used to treat anaemia caused by chronic kidney disease, and in 1985 created white blood cell booster NEUPOGEN, both of which continue to comprise part of the Company’s product portfolio. In 1989 the Company established its European headquarters in Lucerne, Switzerland, following which it established a network of offices across Europe, including a key manufacturing and distribution centre in Breda, the Netherlands.
Amgen has continued to expand its operations and product portfolio, which currently includes 15 flagships medications, including Aranesp, Blincyto, Sensibar, and Vectibix. The Company has a presence in more than 100 countries worldwide, including across the Americas, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, and employs more than 17,000 employees. The Company is placed at 130 in the Fortune 500 lists and is ranked 131st in the Forbes Global 2000.
Amgen’s shares are traded on the NASDAQ. It has a current market capitalisation of $127.05 billion.
Business model of Amgen
Customer Segments
Amgen’s products are designed to serve customers across all parts of the medical and healthcare sector. The majority of the Company’s sales are made to wholesalers and distributors, which in turn sell the Company’s products to their customers, which include physicians, clinics, dialysis centres, hospitals and pharmacies. In 2015 the Company’s product sales to leading medical wholesalers AmerisourceBergen Corporation, McKesson Corporation and Cardinal Health, each accounted for more than 10% of Amgen’s total revenues for the year.
Amgen’s principal market is its native US, which accounted for almost 80% of the Company’s product sales in 2015. The Company, however, serves customers worldwide, with its remaining sales targeting customers across the rest of North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
Value Propositions
Amgen provides value to its customers in the following ways:
- Its portfolio of quality and original products, with the Company providing a broad range of therapeutic products targeting a range of conditions and ailments, with a track record of being safe and reliable;
- Its global sales reach, with the Company serving a broad spectrum of customers worldwide, including across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa;
- Its efficient and reliable manufacturing operations, with the Company providing safe and reliable production of biologic medicines;
- Its commitment to innovation and development, with the Company devoting a substantial portion of its revenue to research and development activities, with a view to creating new and innovative products; and
- The expertise of its personnel, with the Company employing well-trained technical staff and experienced industry executives.
Channels
Amgen operates a website at www.amgen.com, through which it provides information on its products, services, and corporate activities. The Company does not, however, operate an online sales channel.
Amgen sells its products to wholesalers and distributors through its own in-house direct sales force. The largest concentration of the Company’s sales and marketing forces are based in the US and Europe, with the Company expanding its marketing presence across parts of Latin America, the Middle East and Asia. Outside of the US the Company frequently makes sales by establishing affiliate companies, acquiring existing third party businesses or product rights, or in partnering with third parties.
Amgen’s products reach the general public through a network of pharmacies, medical centres, hospitals, and clinics.
Customer Relationships
While Amgen has an online presence, the Company does not operate an online sales channel. Instead, the Company’s in-house sales organisations deal directly with customers, consulting with them over a period of time in order to fully cover the needs of the customer. Amgen seeks to establish long-term relationships with its customers, often agreeing multi-year sales contracts with its largest customers.
Amgen provides support and assistance to existing and potential clients, who are able to contact the Company over the phone and by email, receiving personalised responses to all queries, enquiries, and concerns. This is supplemented by online support resources, such as medical information, safety data sheets, and product information.
Customers are also able to interact with Amgen directly through its social media profiles, including with YouTube, LinkedIn, and Twitter. The Company also publishes news releases and statements on its website to keep customers informed on corporate developments.
Key Activities
Amgen is a biotechnology company. The Company is engaged in the discovery, development, manufacture and delivery of various human therapeutics products. The Company’s activities are organised into a single operating segment concerning its human therapeutics business.
The Company provides a number of products targeted at a range of ailments and conditions, including Neulasta, Aranesp, EPOGEN, Sensipar/Mimpara, XGEVA, Prolia, and NEUPOGEN. Amgen is also engaged in research and development activities, seeking to produce innovative treatments for serious illnesses in the areas of oncology, haematology, cardiovascular disease, inflammation, bone health, nephrology and neuroscience.
Its products in Phase III programs include Aranesp for Myelodysplastic syndromes, ENBREL for Psoriatic arthritis and Rheumatoid arthritis remission, IMLYGIC for Metastatic melanoma, and Kyprolis for Multiple myeloma.
Key Partners
Amgen collaborates with various companies throughout the process of developing, manufacturing and distributing its products. These partnerships can be placed into the following core categories:
- Academic and Research Partners, comprising academic institutions, research organisations, and pharmaceutical and therapeutics companies that assist the Company in developing new and innovative products;
- Supplier Partners, comprising suppliers of tools, resources, technology, and services that assist in the development and manufacture of the Company’s products;
- Business Development Partners, comprising a range of alliance and strategic partners with which the Company shares resources and collaborates on joint-venture projects; and
- Channel Partners, comprising distributors, affiliates and sales agents that help to extend the Company’s sales and marketing reach in jurisdictions where it is not well-represented.
Amgen has development partnerships with other pharmaceutical companies such as Daiichi Sankyo, Novartis, and Takeda.
Key Resources
Amgen’s key resources are its intellectual properties and licensed technologies, its manufacturing and production infrastructure, its sales and distribution channels, its partnerships, and its personnel.
Amgen has a number of patents and trademarks in place in the US and internationally in order to protect its intellectual properties. Searches of the records published by the US Patent and Trademark Office identified numerous patent applications filed in Amgen’s name, including applications entitled ‘Heteroaryloxyheterocyclyl compounds as PDE10 inhibitors’, ‘Processes of making and crystalline forms of a MDM2 inhibitor’ and ‘Methods for modulating mannose content of recombinant proteins’.
Cost Structure
Amgen incurs costs in relation to the development of new products, the operation of its manufacturing and logistics infrastructure, the management of its partnership, the operation of its sales and marketing channels, and the retention of its personnel.
In 2015 Amgen accrued research and development costs in the amount of $4.07 billion, with cost of sales expenses amounting to $4.22 billion. The Company also accrues similar selling, general and administrative expenses – including the payment of salaries and benefits to its workforce of more than 17,000 employees – which totalled $4.85 billion in 2015.
Revenue Streams
Amgen generates revenue through the sale of its various therapeutic products to customers operating within the medical and healthcare sector. The Company also derives a small amount of revenue from royalty income and corporate partner revenues, which are recorded under the Other Revenue category.
In 2015 Amgen recorded annual revenue of $21,66 billion, up slightly on the $20.06 billion generated by the Company in 2014. The vast majority of this revenue, $20.94 billion, was generated through product sales. Close to 50% of the Company’s product sales revenue was derived from the sale of ENBREL and Neulasta, which respectively recorded annual sales of $5.36 billion and $4.72 billion.
Our team
info: Robert (“Bradway”) has served as Amgen’s Chairman since 2013 and as its and Chief Executive Officer since 2012. Bradway is also a director of Norfolk Southern Corporation, and is Chairman of the Chief Executive Officer Roundtable on Cancer, a non-profit concerned with the development of treatment for cancer. Bradway joined the company in 2006 as Vice President of Operations Strategy, going on to serve as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, President, and Chief Operating before assuming his current position. Bradway began his career in 1985, when he joined Morgan Stanley in New York as a health care industry investment banker, later moving to the Company’s London office in 1990. From 2001 he served as Managing Director at Morgan Stanley in London, taking responsibility for the firm’s banking department and corporate finance activities in Europe.
info: David (“Meline”) joined Amgen in 2014 as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Meline began his career at AT&T, serving initially as a product design engineer. He went on to work for General Motors, serving in a variety of roles including Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for GM North America. He also held senior-level positions at GM Europe in Switzerland, GM Daewoo in South Korea, GM Brasil, GM Kenya, and as part of the company Treasury Division at GM’s New York office. Meline joined 3M in 2008, serving as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer until leaving the Company to join Amgen.
info: Paul (“Eisenberg”) has as Senior Vice President of Global Medical and Chief Medical Officer since 2015. He has been with the Company since 2005, when he joined the Company as Vice President of Safety. Eisenberg has since served as Vice President of Global Regulatory and Safety, and as Senior Vice President of Regulatory and Safety before assuming his current position. Eisenberg began his career in academics, serving as Professor of Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis from 1983 to 1998. In 1998 he joined Eli Lilly and Company as Executive Director of Cardiovascular Therapeutic Area and Discovery. Eisenberg was promoted to the position of Vice President of General Medicine in 2000, and to the position of Vice President of Global Patient Safety in 2002.