Amgen Inc by Ray Sahelian, M.D. Amgen Pharmaceutical Company products

Amgen is a human therapeutics company in the biotechnology industry. Amgen pioneered the development of novel products based on advances in recombinant DNA and molecular biology and launched the biotechnology industry’s first blockbuster medicines. Amgen continues to be an entrepreneurial, science-driven enterprise dedicated to helping people fight serious illness.

Amgen products
Aranesp (darbepoetin alfa) - Aranesp is indicated for the treatment of anemia associated with chronic renal failure (both in patients on dialysis and those not on dialysis), as well as for the treatment of chemotherapy-induced anemia in patients with nonmyeloid malignancies. It was approved in 2001 for patients with chronic renal failure, and in 2002 for the treatment of chemotherapy-induced anemia.

Enbrel (etanercept) = Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) is one of the chemical messengers that helps regulate the inflammatory process. When the body produces too much TNF, it overwhelms the immune system’s ability to control inflammation of the joints or of psoriasis-affected skin areas. Enbrel is similar to a protein that the body produces naturally, and like this protein, it binds and deactivates some TNF molecules before they can trigger inflammation.
-->Enbrel® is indicated for reducing the signs and symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, polyarticular-course juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, and chronic moderate to severe psoriasis. It was first approved for rheumatoid arthritis in 1998, and approval for the other indications followed over the past several years.

Epogen (Epoetin alfa) - Epogen is indicated for the treatment of anemia associated with chronic renal failure in dialysis patients. Approved in 1989, Epogen was one of the first biologically derived human therapeutics.

Kepivance (palifermin) - Kepivance is indicated to decrease the incidence and duration of severe oral mucositis (mouth sores) in patients with hematologic (blood) cancers who are undergoing high-dose chemotherapy, with or without radiation, followed by bone transplant.

Kineret (anakinra) = Kineret is approved for the reduction in signs and symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis in adult patients who have an inadequate response to other disease modifying antirheumatic drugs. It was approved by the FDA in 2001, and was the first therapy from Amgen’s rheumatology research program.

Neulasta (pegfilgrastim) - Neulasta is indicated for reducing the incidence of infection associated with chemotherapy-induced neutropenia in cancer patients with nonmyeloid malignancies. It was approved by the FDA in 2002.

Neupogen (Filgrastim) - Neupogen is indicated for reducing the incidence of infection from chemotherapy-induced neutropenia in cancer patients with nonmyeloid malignancies. It was approved by the FDA for this indication in 1991. It is also indicated for patients with acute myeloid leukemia receiving induction or consolidation chemotherapy, cancer patients receiving bone marrow transplant, patients undergoing peripheral blood progenitor cell collection and therapy, and patients with severe chronic neutropenia.

Sensipar (cinacalcet HCl) - Sensipar is indicated for the treatment of secondary hyperparathyroidism in patients with chronic kidney disease on dialysis, as well as the treatment of hypercalcemia in patients with parathyroid carcinoma. It was approved by the FDA in 2004.

Vectibix (panitumumab) - Approved by the FDA in September 2006, Vectibix is indicated for the treatment of patients with EGFr-expressing metastatic colorectal cancer who have disease progression, on or following fluoropyrimidine-, oxaliplatin- and irinotecan- containing regimens.

Financial events - Amgen stock
December 2006 - Biotech drug company Amgen Inc. said its board has authorized additional repurchases of up to $5 billion in Amgen stock. Amgen said it currently has $1.5 billion remaining under its previous stock repurchase authorization and said the new authorization reflects the company's confidence in its long-term prospects.

Amgen EPO anemia drug
May 2007 - According to the New York Times, Amgen Inc. and Johnson & Johnson have been paying doctors hundreds of millions of dollars every year in return for prescribing anemia drugs. The payments give doctors an incentive to prescribe the anemia drug, known as erythropoietin (EPO). Companies cannot pay doctors to prescribe drugs that are given in pill form and purchased from pharmacies, but they can rebate part of the price that doctors pay for medicines that they dispense in their offices. DaVita, the biggest owner of dialysis clinics in the United States, gets a quarter of its revenue from anemia drugs.