Amgen Announces Major Layoffs
Amgen: Layoff Tally Hits 2,200 Employees
September 25th, 2007 9:27 am By Ed Silverman
The biotech, which last month announced plans to slash between 2,200 and 2,600 positions, is now saying 2,200 employees will, in fact, lose their jobs and that includes about 675 layoffs at its headquarters in Thousand Oaks, Ca., The Ventura County Star reports.
The cuts follow an extraordinary number of setbacks - the FDA issued strict warnings on Aranesp and Epogen. Congress is investigating the marketing and safety of the drugs. The Securities and Exchange Commission is probing a failure to tell Wall Street that a key clinical trial ended over safety concerns, which only became known after an industry newsletter published the details. Worst of all, Medicare reduced reimbursement for the drugs. Oh yes, Amgen is postponing a $1 billion plant in Ireland. Until last month, though, ceo Kevin Sharer refused to acknowledge he faced a crisis.
Amgen spokesman David Polk says about 700 employees are taking voluntary buyouts, and eligibility was based on age and years with the company, but he claims the plan is fairly generous. But after tallying the number of buyouts and accounting for a hiring freeze and attrition, Amgen realized it needed to cut 1,500 more jobs. Of those, about 45 percent are in Thousand Oaks, which comes to about 675 employees. There was no word on how many people agreeing to buyouts work in Thousands Oaks or whether Sharer will see his bonus reduced this year.
Meanwhile, at the nearby Alamo Mexican Grill & Cantina, a popular spot among Amgen employees, two Amgen employees eating lunch yesterday described the mood at the biotech company as “quiet..I think everyone is concerned about their co-workers,” one of them said.
The workers declined to give their names or say what department they worked in, saying it was “too dangerous.” Asked whether they were concerned about losing their jobs, one figured her department was secure, but the other quickly chimed in: “But you never know. That could change tomorrow.”
The biotech, which last month announced plans to slash between 2,200 and 2,600 positions, is now saying 2,200 employees will, in fact, lose their jobs and that includes about 675 layoffs at its headquarters in Thousand Oaks, Ca., The Ventura County Star reports.
The cuts follow an extraordinary number of setbacks - the FDA issued strict warnings on Aranesp and Epogen. Congress is investigating the marketing and safety of the drugs. The Securities and Exchange Commission is probing a failure to tell Wall Street that a key clinical trial ended over safety concerns, which only became known after an industry newsletter published the details. Worst of all, Medicare reduced reimbursement for the drugs. Oh yes, Amgen is postponing a $1 billion plant in Ireland. Until last month, though, ceo Kevin Sharer refused to acknowledge he faced a crisis.
Amgen spokesman David Polk says about 700 employees are taking voluntary buyouts, and eligibility was based on age and years with the company, but he claims the plan is fairly generous. But after tallying the number of buyouts and accounting for a hiring freeze and attrition, Amgen realized it needed to cut 1,500 more jobs. Of those, about 45 percent are in Thousand Oaks, which comes to about 675 employees. There was no word on how many people agreeing to buyouts work in Thousands Oaks or whether Sharer will see his bonus reduced this year.
Meanwhile, at the nearby Alamo Mexican Grill & Cantina, a popular spot among Amgen employees, two Amgen employees eating lunch yesterday described the mood at the biotech company as “quiet..I think everyone is concerned about their co-workers,” one of them said.
The workers declined to give their names or say what department they worked in, saying it was “too dangerous.” Asked whether they were concerned about losing their jobs, one figured her department was secure, but the other quickly chimed in: “But you never know. That could change tomorrow.”
Friday, August 17, 2007
Amgen to Layoff 12 to 14% of its Workforce
Amgen towers above the housing development of Rancho Conejo, which has grown significantly over the past decade.
In business just as in real estate what goes up - can come down.
Amgen Inc. who has been riding high in the biotechnology world for almost two decades announced a retrenchment today.
Biotech giant Amgen Inc. of Thousand Oaks said today that it would cut 2,200 to 2,600 jobs as part of a sweeping plan to save more than $1 billion next year, in an unprecedented retrenchment for the typically buoyant biotech industry.
The cuts, which amount to 12% to 14% of the company’s workforce, follow a string of recent clinical and regulatory setbacks for the company, particularly involving Aranesp, its top revenue-producing biotech drug in the United States last year, with sales of $4.1 billion.
Although specific cuts were not part of the initial announcement, the company said it would close certain production operations and reduce the size of other units to become more efficient.
More than half of Amgen’s employees work at the company’s Ventura County headquarters, and analysts said the cuts were likely to have a significant effect on the local economy, which has boomed in recent years with Amgen’s success.
Flap lives in Rancho Conejo north of the Amgen campus and remembers when Amgen had a few employees who did not expect the company to survive a year or so - they were my dental patients. My dental office opened in 1979 before Amgen arrived and remember their early and struggling years.
Then, Amgen hit it big with two break-through drugs, Eopogen and Neupogen.
I remember arranging a meeting between the, then, Chairman of Amgen, Gordon Binder and the City Manager of Thousand Oaks, Grant Brimhall. At the time I was the dentist of one of Amgen’s executive Vice President’s and was also on the Thousand Oaks Planning Commission.
Amgen, you understand, had dreams to build a campus facility out of the myriad leased properties in the Rancho Conejo. Although Flap was elected to the Ventura County Community College Board and left the Thousand Oaks Planning Commission, I did have the opportunity to vote to approve the Rancho Conejo Specific Plan - involving the entire planning area north of the 101 Freeway.
So, this news will definitely devastate many families in the Thousand Oaks area. The real estate market here is already soft with home property values decreasing as much as 25% this past year. Home values will continue to decline precipitiously.
Business will also feel the pain.
There have always been rumors that Amgen will be purchased by a larger drug/pharmaceutical company.
Perhaps a merger or acquisition now will save these jobs.
In business just as in real estate what goes up - can come down.
Amgen Inc. who has been riding high in the biotechnology world for almost two decades announced a retrenchment today.
Biotech giant Amgen Inc. of Thousand Oaks said today that it would cut 2,200 to 2,600 jobs as part of a sweeping plan to save more than $1 billion next year, in an unprecedented retrenchment for the typically buoyant biotech industry.
The cuts, which amount to 12% to 14% of the company’s workforce, follow a string of recent clinical and regulatory setbacks for the company, particularly involving Aranesp, its top revenue-producing biotech drug in the United States last year, with sales of $4.1 billion.
Although specific cuts were not part of the initial announcement, the company said it would close certain production operations and reduce the size of other units to become more efficient.
More than half of Amgen’s employees work at the company’s Ventura County headquarters, and analysts said the cuts were likely to have a significant effect on the local economy, which has boomed in recent years with Amgen’s success.
Flap lives in Rancho Conejo north of the Amgen campus and remembers when Amgen had a few employees who did not expect the company to survive a year or so - they were my dental patients. My dental office opened in 1979 before Amgen arrived and remember their early and struggling years.
Then, Amgen hit it big with two break-through drugs, Eopogen and Neupogen.
I remember arranging a meeting between the, then, Chairman of Amgen, Gordon Binder and the City Manager of Thousand Oaks, Grant Brimhall. At the time I was the dentist of one of Amgen’s executive Vice President’s and was also on the Thousand Oaks Planning Commission.
Amgen, you understand, had dreams to build a campus facility out of the myriad leased properties in the Rancho Conejo. Although Flap was elected to the Ventura County Community College Board and left the Thousand Oaks Planning Commission, I did have the opportunity to vote to approve the Rancho Conejo Specific Plan - involving the entire planning area north of the 101 Freeway.
So, this news will definitely devastate many families in the Thousand Oaks area. The real estate market here is already soft with home property values decreasing as much as 25% this past year. Home values will continue to decline precipitiously.
Business will also feel the pain.
There have always been rumors that Amgen will be purchased by a larger drug/pharmaceutical company.
Perhaps a merger or acquisition now will save these jobs.
Labels: Amgen, California, layoffs
