Amgen

Amgen Inc. (nasdaq: AMGN, ) is an international biotechnology company headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California. Located in the Conejo Valley, Amgen is the world's largest independent biotech firm. The company employs approximately 17,000 staff members. Its products include Epogen, Aranesp, Enbrel, Kineret, Neulasta, Neupogen, Sensipar / Mimpara, Nplate, and Prolia. Epogen and Neupogen (the company's first products on the market) were the two most successful biopharmaceutical products at the time of their respective releases.

BusinessWeek ranked Amgen first on the S&P 500 for being one of the most "future-oriented" of those five hundred corporations. BusinessWeek ostensibly calculated the ratio of research and development spending, combined with capital spending, to total outlays; Amgen had the fourth highest ratio, at 506:1000. Amgen is the largest employer in Thousand Oaks and second only to the United States Navy in terms of number of people employed in Ventura County.

With plans to expand into market.

It is a leading member of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, a coalition of over 400 companies and NGOs that promotes increased funding for US diplomatic and international development programs.

In 2010, Amgen began sponsoring the Tour of California, one of only three major Union Cycliste Internationale events in the United States.

History
The word AMGen is a portmanteau of the company's original name, Applied Molecular Genetics, which became the official name of the company in 1983 (three years after incorporation and coincident with its initial public offering). The company's first chief executive officer, from 1980, was George B. Rathmann, followed by Gordon M. Binder in 1988, followed by Kevin W. Sharer in 2000. The company has made at least five major corporate acquisitions.

Acquisition history

 * 1994 - Synergen, Inc.
 * 2000 - Kinetix Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
 * 2002 - Immunex Corporation
 * 2004 - Tularik, Inc.
 * 2006 - Abgenix, Inc.
 * 2006 - Avidia, Inc.
 * 2007 - Ilypsa, Inc.
 * 2007 - Alantos Pharmaceuticals Holdings, Inc.
 * 2011 - BioVex Group, Inc.

Products
As of August 9, 2011, Amgen had twelve approved drugs or therapeutic biologicals for seventeen conditions (conditions lists are highly generalized; see each article for more detail): In other drug discovery phases (Phases I, II, III and in preclinical development), the company has twenty-three pharmacologic agents for twenty-eight conditions; nineteen of the candidates are not currently approved for any indication.
 * Aranesp (darbepoetin alfa) (for anemia)
 * Enbrel (Etanercept) (for various forms of arthritis)
 * Epogen (Epoetin) (also known as Procrit; for anemia)
 * Kepivance (Palifermin) (for oral mucositis)
 * Kineret (Anakinra) (for rheumatoid arthritis)
 * Neupogen (Granulocyte-Colony Stimulating Factor) (for neutropenia)
 * Neulasta (PEG Granulocyte-Colony Stimulating Factor or "Pegfilgrastim") (for neutropenia)
 * Vectibix (Panitumumab) (for colon cancer)
 * Sensipar/Mimpara (Cinacalcet) (for Primary & Secondary hyperparathyroidism, a mineral metabolism complication common in patients with kidney failure)
 * Nplate (Romiplostim) (for chronic immune thrombocytopenic purpura)
 * Prolia (denosumab) (for postmenopausal osteoporosis)
 * XGEVA (denosumab) (for the prevention of skeletal-related events (SREs) (pathological fracture, radiation to bone, spinal cord compression or surgery to bone) in adults with bone metastases from solid tumors)