Amgen further on course to success research and innovation
Amgen is one of the largest independent biotechnology companies worldwide. 20,000 employees in America, Europe and Asia are convinced, that biotechnology has the potential to be able to treat diseases that have been to date impossible to treat. The company is planning in the next five to seven years to develop nine molecules as medicines and parallel to this introduce six biosimilars.
In Germany Amgen is represented by three companies. Amgen GmbH in Munich, founded in 1989, has been active for exactly 25 years in clinical research, marketing and production of Amgen medicines in Germany. Amgen Research GmbH (formerly Tularik GmbH) was founded in 2000 in Regensburg. With the aid of high throughput screening the chemical starting points for new product development are identified. 20 employees test approximately 15 million compounds each year. Since March 2012 Amgen Research (Munich) GmbH in Munich (formerly Micromet GmbH) has belonged to Amgen’s field of research and development. Around 200 employees work here in biotechnological research. Amgen Research (Munich) GmbH specializes in the development of bispecific T-cell engagers (BiTEs) for the treatment of cancer.
Amgen was founded in 1980 by a group of young scientists as Applied Molecular GENetics in the hilly landscape of Thousand Oaks, north west of Los Angeles, California. Thanks to gene technology there was success in the production of a human hormone first in 1985 that targets the initiation of the formation of red blood cells: recombinant erythropoietin (EPO), a medicine that offers an alternative to blood transfusions for the treatment of anaemia. The licensing of the medicine in 1989 was an important milestone for biotechnology. Today Amgen has a diversified portfolio. The clinical research concentrates alongside haematology and oncology strongly on nephrology, rheumatology, immunology, endocrinology and cell therapies.
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