Amgen Boasts Lucrative Acquisitions, Drug Updates, Burgeoning Biosimilars at JPM

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Not even a month after purchasing rare disease company Horizon Therapeutics Amgen came to the 41st J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco to tout more than just this feather in its hat.

In a presentation led by Robert J. Bradway, Amgen chairman and chief executive officer, the company covered recent acquisitions, Repatha and Lumakras updates, biosimilars and its broader financial outlook.

Acquisitions

• In December, Amgen acquired Horizon Therapeutics for $26.4 billion, emerging as the winner of a three-way bidding contest to acquire the sought-after company in biopharma’s most significant acquisition of 2022.

Bradway said the acquisition stood to:

• Strengthen Amgen’s portfolio of first-in-class / best-in-class innovative therapeutics
• Leverage Amgen’s decades of commercial and medical leadership in inflammation and nephrology
• Besides Horizon, Amgen completed the integration of ChemoCentryx in October 2022, a biopharma company focused on orally-administered therapeutics for $52 per share in cash, an aggregate merger of $3.7 billion. Bradway reported the integration of the portfolio is going well.

Repatha and Lumakras

• Repatha, for use adults with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, posted 52% volume growth in 2022.
• Lumakras, part of Amgen’s oncology portfolio--here in lung cancer, specifically, posted 11% gains in year-end growth (for the oncology grouping as a whole).

Bradway said global sales of their top nine products, covering inflammation, oncology and general medicine, showed 16% volume growth by the third quarter of 2022, totaling $10.5 billion.

Biosimilars

Bradway said Amgen’s biosimilars continue to show gradual but stable growth.

• Amjevita (Humira) will launch in the U.S. on January 31st.
• More broadly, Amgen expects additional biosimilars to launch within the decade with potentially lucrative results.
• Five biosimilars launched in 2021 racked up $2.2 billion in revenue. By 2030, Bradway projected at least 11 biosimilars to be at play and predicted Amgen to see more than double the 2021 revenue as a result.

Financial Outlook

Though it’s “disciplined capital allocation,” Bradway projected a bountiful future for Amgen through 2030.

Here’s how:

• Executed strategic transactions to invest in external innovation
• Acquired ChemoCentryx and Horizon Therapeutics
• Invested $4 billion in research and development
• Expect $1 billion in capital expenditures (manufacturing facilities in Ohio and North Carolina)
• Increased dividend by 10%
• Repurchased $6 billion in shares

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