THOUSAND OAKS, Calif.,
March 31, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Amgen
(NASDAQ:AMGN) today announced that it has consummated the purchase
from Astellas of 49% of shares of Amgen Astellas BioPharma K.K.
(AABP), a joint venture between Amgen and Astellas established in
2013. AABP, which is now a wholly-owned Amgen affiliate in
Japan renamed Amgen K.K., has enabled Amgen to build a
strong presence in Japan as it
advances treatments for serious illnesses.
"With roughly one-quarter of its population 65 or older,
Japan will require ever more
innovative medicines to treat diseases associated with the aging
process," said Robert A. Bradway,
chairman and chief executive officer of Amgen. "Our current
and emerging portfolio of medicines matches up well with the needs
of patients in Japan."
"Amgen medicines have been available for patients in
Japan for many years through local
partnerships, including most recently our joint venture with
Astellas. Going forward, Amgen K.K. will continue marketing
our treatments for patients with cardiovascular disease, cancer and
osteoporosis, as well as new medicines emerging from our pipeline,"
said Steve Sugino, president and
representative director of Amgen K.K. "As Amgen K.K., we will
continue to work and invest to become an even more valuable member
of the healthcare community in Japan."
Since 2011, Amgen has expanded its geographic presence from
approximately 50 to 100 countries, enabling the company to play a
growing role in serving the rapidly increasing demand for better
healthcare around the world. In 2019, Amgen invested more than
$4 billion in research and
development to advance numerous potential new medicines across all
stages of our pipeline.
About Amgen K.K.
Amgen K.K. is a wholly owned
Japanese affiliate of Amgen Inc., one of the largest independent
biotechnology companies in the world. Amgen K.K., formerly Amgen
Astellas BioPharma K.K., was established in October 2013 as joint venture between Amgen and
Astellas, and changed its corporate name when it became a wholly
owned subsidiary of Amgen. Under the mission, "To serve patients,"
Amgen K.K. focuses on the development of innovative medicines, and
addressing severe unmet medical needs of patients in Japan by bringing Amgen's global pipelines,
ranging from cardiovascular diseases, cancer, bone diseases through
neurological diseases.
About Amgen
Amgen is committed to unlocking the
potential of biology for patients suffering from serious illnesses
by discovering, developing, manufacturing and delivering innovative
human therapeutics. This approach begins by using tools like
advanced human genetics to unravel the complexities of disease and
understand the fundamentals of human biology.
Amgen focuses on areas of high unmet medical need and leverages
its biologics manufacturing expertise to strive for solutions that
improve health outcomes and dramatically improve people's lives. A
biotechnology pioneer since 1980, Amgen has grown to be the world's
largest independent biotechnology company, has reached millions of
patients around the world and is developing a pipeline of medicines
with breakaway potential.
For more information, visit www.amgen.com and follow us on
www.twitter.com/amgen.
Amgen Forward-Looking Statements
This
communication contains forward-looking statements that are based on
the current expectations and beliefs of Amgen. All statements,
other than statements of historical fact, are statements that could
be deemed forward-looking statements, including any statements on
the outcome, benefits and synergies of collaborations with any
other company, including BeiGene, Ltd., or the Otezla®
(apremilast) acquisition, including anticipated Otezla sales growth
and the timing of non-GAAP EPS accretion, as well as estimates of
revenues, operating margins, capital expenditures, cash, other
financial metrics, expected legal, arbitration, political,
regulatory or clinical results or practices, customer and
prescriber patterns or practices, reimbursement activities and
outcomes, effects of pandemics or other widespread health problems
such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on our business, and other
such estimates and results. Forward-looking statements involve
significant risks and uncertainties, including those discussed
below and more fully described in the Securities and Exchange
Commission reports filed by Amgen, including our most recent annual
report on Form 10-K and any subsequent periodic reports on Form
10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K. Unless otherwise noted, Amgen
is providing this information as of the date of this news release
and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking
statements contained in this document as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise.
No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed and actual
results may differ materially from those we project. Our results
may be affected by our ability to successfully market both new and
existing products domestically and internationally, clinical and
regulatory developments involving current and future products,
sales growth of recently launched products, competition from other
products including biosimilars, difficulties or delays in
manufacturing our products and global economic conditions. In
addition, sales of our products are affected by pricing pressure,
political and public scrutiny and reimbursement policies imposed by
third-party payers, including governments, private insurance plans
and managed care providers and may be affected by regulatory,
clinical and guideline developments and domestic and international
trends toward managed care and healthcare cost containment.
Furthermore, our research, testing, pricing, marketing and other
operations are subject to extensive regulation by domestic and
foreign government regulatory authorities. We or others could
identify safety, side effects or manufacturing problems with our
products, including our devices, after they are on the market. Our
business may be impacted by government investigations, litigation
and product liability claims. In addition, our business may be
impacted by the adoption of new tax legislation or exposure to
additional tax liabilities. If we fail to meet the compliance
obligations in the corporate integrity agreement between us and the
U.S. government, we could become subject to significant sanctions.
Further, while we routinely obtain patents for our products and
technology, the protection offered by our patents and patent
applications may be challenged, invalidated or circumvented by our
competitors, or we may fail to prevail in present and future
intellectual property litigation. We perform a substantial amount
of our commercial manufacturing activities at a few key facilities,
including in Puerto Rico, and also
depend on third parties for a portion of our manufacturing
activities, and limits on supply may constrain sales of certain of
our current products and product candidate development. An outbreak
of disease or similar public health threat, such as COVID-19, and
the public and governmental effort to mitigate against the spread
of such disease, could have a significant adverse effect on the
supply of materials for our manufacturing activities, the
distribution of our products, the commercialization of our product
candidates, and our clinical trial operations, and any such events
may have a material adverse effect on our product sales, business
and results of operations. We rely on collaborations with third
parties for the development of some of our product candidates and
for the commercialization and sales of some of our commercial
products. In addition, we compete with other companies with respect
to many of our marketed products as well as for the discovery and
development of new products. Discovery or identification of new
product candidates or development of new indications for existing
products cannot be guaranteed and movement from concept to product
is uncertain; consequently, there can be no guarantee that any
particular product candidate or development of a new indication for
an existing product will be successful and become a commercial
product. Further, some raw materials, medical devices and component
parts for our products are supplied by sole third-party suppliers.
Certain of our distributors, customers and payers have substantial
purchasing leverage in their dealings with us. The discovery of
significant problems with a product similar to one of our products
that implicate an entire class of products could have a material
adverse effect on sales of the affected products and on our
business and results of operations. Our efforts to collaborate with
or acquire other companies, products or technology, and to
integrate the operations of companies or to support the products or
technology we have acquired, may not be successful. A breakdown,
cyberattack or information security breach could compromise the
confidentiality, integrity and availability of our systems and our
data. Our stock price is volatile and may be affected by a number
of events. Our business performance could affect or limit the
ability of our Board of Directors to declare a dividend or our
ability to pay a dividend or repurchase our common stock. We may
not be able to access the capital and credit markets on terms that
are favorable to us, or at all.
CONTACTS:
Amgen, Thousand Oaks
Megan Fox, 805-447-1423 (media)
Trish Rowland, 805-447-5631
(media)
Arvind Sood, 805-447-1060
(investors)
Amgen K.K. (Tokyo)
Corporate Affairs
Toyoko Endo, +81 3 5293 9694
(media)
Tsuneyoshi Toyoshima, +81 3 4563 8610 (media)
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SOURCE Amgen