Amgen Restructures, Reduces Staff by 12-14 Percent

Biotech giant Amgen will lay off up to 2,200 employees and cut expenditures by about $1.9 billion due to an expected decrease in sales of two of its most used drugs. The move to restructure follows the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ decision on July 30 that physicians would only be reimbursed for prescribing anemia drugs Aranesp and Epogen in certain ways. The company made a determination that sales of those drugs would most certainly be reduced, Amgen spokesman David Polk said. “We’re repositioning the company, so we can grow at an appropriate rate,” Polk added. Amgen will make the bulk of the changes it has announced by 2008. By fall, more than 2,200 staffers are expected to be laid off. U.S. operations and “a large share of [staffers in] research and development and manufacturing arenas, will likely be disproportionately impacted” by the layoffs, Polk said. Amgen will achieve the staff cuts through a voluntary transition program, attrition and hiring freezes.