9. Amgen $16.4B ▲10.9%
Global revenue: $20.5B (11th); up 10.4%
Top brands: Enbrel ($5.5B); Neulasta ($3.8B); Epogen ($2.4B); Xgeva ($857M); Sensipar ($796M)
Promotional spend: $334M (19th); 2.0% of rev.
R&D spend: $4.3B (10th); up 5.2%; 21.0% of rev.
Planned launches: Corlanor (CV); Repatha (CV); Talimogene laherparepvec (onc.)
Patent expirations: Epogen (2015); Neulasta (2015); Sensipar (2018)
Amgen pushed past $20 billion in sales for the first time in 2014—and is already making waves in 2015, courtesy of its involvement in two of this year’s most-watched developments. First, Amgen finds itself in a heated race with Sanofi and Regeneron in the nascent PCSK9 anti-cholesterol space. Should the company establish a beachhead within the category, it would also acquire valuable reach in the sub-category of rare-disease drugs that have mass-application appeal. Second, the FDA’s approval of Sandoz’s Neupogen biosimilar, Zarxio, made Amgen the first company to have a biologic that will face off against a lookalike drug; Amgen’s branded biologic Neupogen will compete with a biosimilar that shares all five indications. Additionally, Amgen’s biosimilar pipeline includes lookalikes for Roche’s Avastin and AbbVie’s Humira; it expects to launch its first biosimilar in 2017.
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From the May 01, 2015 Issue of MM+M - Medical Marketing and Media
