Amgen to Layoff 12 to 14% of its Workforce
Amgen towers above the housing development of Rancho Conejo, which has grown significantly over the past decade.
In business just as in real estate what goes up -Â can come down.
Amgen Inc. who has been riding high in the biotechnology world for almost two decades announced a retrenchment today.
Biotech giant Amgen Inc. of Thousand Oaks said today that it would cut 2,200 to 2,600 jobs as part of a sweeping plan to save more than $1 billion next year, in an unprecedented retrenchment for the typically buoyant biotech industry.
The cuts, which amount to 12% to 14% of the company’s workforce, follow a string of recent clinical and regulatory setbacks for the company, particularly involving Aranesp, its top revenue-producing biotech drug in the United States last year, with sales of $4.1 billion.
Although specific cuts were not part of the initial announcement, the company said it would close certain production operations and reduce the size of other units to become more efficient.
More than half of Amgen’s employees work at the company’s Ventura County headquarters, and analysts said the cuts were likely to have a significant effect on the local economy, which has boomed in recent years with Amgen’s success.
Flap lives in Rancho Conejo north of the Amgen campus and remembers when Amgen had a few employees who did not expect the company to survive a year or so – they were my dental patients. My dental office opened in 1979 before Amgen arrived and remember their early and struggling years.
Then, Amgen hit it big with two break-through drugs, Eopogen and Neupogen.
I remember arranging a meeting between the, then, Chairman of Amgen, Gordon Binder and the City Manager of Thousand Oaks, Grant Brimhall. At the time I was the dentist of one of Amgen’s executive Vice President’s and was also on the Thousand Oaks Planning Commission.
Amgen, you understand, had dreams to build a campus facility out of the myriad leased properties in the Rancho Conejo. Although Flap was elected to the Ventura County Community College Board and left the Thousand Oaks Planning Commission, I did have the opportunity to vote to approve the Rancho Conejo Specific Plan – involving the entire planning area north of the 101 Freeway.
So, this news will definitely devastate many families in the Thousand Oaks area. The real estate market here is already soft with home property values decreasing as much as 25% this past year. Home values will continue to decline precipitiously.
Business will also feel the pain.
There have always been rumors that Amgen will be purchased by a larger drug/pharmaceutical company.
Perhaps a merger or acquisition now will save these jobs.
Stay tuned……
Related:
Amgen stock ailing amid drug ruling
U.S. to cut anemia drug payments
Technorati Tags: Amgen, Biotechnology, Thousand Oaks
One Comment
K. Rogers
Perhaps the marketing practices of Amgen hepled to bring about the financial crisis. This is a company that would spend hundreds of thousands of dollars throwing lavish parties in resort destinations, week long parties, in the best hotels. Hundreds of thousands per party. In Vegas, they partied at Tao, where Paris and Brittany hang out. The stayed at the Ventitian and the Bellagio. These parties were held for already rich doctors, to persuade them to push Amgens drugs on thier sick patients. These events happened not once a year, but generally once a month. How can any company stay solvent with such ridiculous waste? They have a whole department for planning these parties. Perhaps thier sick patients and stockholders would have appreciated less parties and more money put into keeping drug costs down and dividends up.