Amgen Inc.
Amgen Inc. discovers, develops, manufactures, and delivers human therapeutics worldwide. The company's principal products include Enbrel for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, plaque psoriasis, and psoriatic arthritis; Otezla for the treatment of adult patients with plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and oral ulcers associated with Behçet's disease; Prolia to treat postmenopausal women with osteoporosis; XGEVA for skeletal-related events prevention; Repatha, which reduces the risks of myocardial infarction, stroke, and coronary revascularization; Nplate for the treatment of patients with immune thrombocytopenia; KYPROLIS to treat patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma; Aranesp to treat a lower-than-normal number of red blood cells and anemia; EVENITY for the treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal for women; Vectibix to treat patients with wild-type RAS metastatic colorectal cancer; BLINCYTO for the treatment of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia; TEPEZZA to treat thyroid eye disease; and KRYSTEXXA for the treatment of chronic refractory gout. It also markets other products, including PROLIA, REPATHA, OTEZLA, ENBREL, EVENITY, XGEVA, TEPEZZA, BLINCYTO, NPLATE, TEZSPIRE, KYPROLIS, ARANESP, KRYSTEXXA AND VECTIBIX, MVASI, PAVBLU, UPLIZNA, IMDELLTRA/IMDYLLTRA, AMJEVITA/AMGEVITA, TAVNEOS, NEULASTA, LUMAKRAS/LUMYKRAS, RAVICTI, PARSABIV, AIMOVIG, WEZLANA/WEZENLA, AND PROCYSBI. The company serves healthcare providers, including physicians or their clinics, dialysis centers, hospitals, and pharmacies. It distributes its products through pharmaceutical wholesale distributors. The company has collaboration agreements with AstraZeneca plc for the development and commercialization of TEZSPIRE; BEONE MEDICINES LTD. to develop and commercialize Aimovig; UCB for the development and commercialization of EVENITY; Kyowa Kirin Co., Ltd. for rocatinlimab development and commercialization; and BeiGene, Ltd. for oncology products expansion and development. The company was incorporated in 1980 and is headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California.
What does it do?
Amgen is one of the world's largest biotech companies — it invents and sells medicines made from living cells rather than chemicals. Think of drugs like Enbrel, which helps people with rheumatoid arthritis live without constant joint pain, or Repatha, which lowers cholesterol for people who can't tolerate statins. Amgen does everything itself: it discovers the drug, runs the clinical trials, manufactures it, and sells it directly to hospitals and pharmacies. With over 40 years in business, it's one of the companies that essentially built the modern biotech industry.
Amgen sits at the intersection of two massive trends right now: the aging global population driving demand for chronic disease treatments, and the explosive race to develop obesity and weight-loss drugs. Its recent $28 billion acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics added rare disease drugs to its portfolio, meaningfully expanding its revenue base and making it a bigger player in specialty medicine. Investors are also watching Amgen's experimental obesity drug MariTide closely — if it works, it could put Amgen directly into competition with Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk in the hottest drug category on the planet.
How does it make money?
Amgen made $36.8 billion in revenue last year, up from $33.4 billion the prior year — a solid 10% jump. Most of that money comes from selling prescription drugs directly to specialty pharmacies, hospitals, and healthcare providers, with a handful of blockbuster products doing the heavy lifting. Enbrel alone has historically generated billions annually, though it's facing biosimilar competition (cheaper copycat versions of the drug). The Horizon acquisition added Tepezza, a treatment for a rare thyroid eye disease, which now contributes meaningfully to revenue.
Why do investors care?
The big bet investors are making on Amgen right now is MariTide, its obesity drug still in clinical trials. The obesity drug market is expected to be worth hundreds of billions of dollars, and if MariTide proves effective and competitive, Amgen's revenue could jump dramatically. Beyond that, Amgen has a deep pipeline of drugs in development across cancer, heart disease, and rare conditions — meaning there are multiple shots on goal. What has to go right: MariTide needs strong trial results, existing drugs need to hold their market share despite biosimilar pressure, and the Horizon acquisition needs to keep delivering revenue growth.
Deep Dive
MemberA full investor briefing on Amgen Inc. — history, leadership, risks, and outlook.