Amgen Company

Amgen Inc. and Johnson & Johnson were set back in efforts to overturn Medicare limits on use of the firms' anemia drugs when U.S. drug regulators found the restrictions appropriate. Payment rules set by Medicare, the U.S. healthcare program for the elderly and disabled, are "generally consistent" with prescribing information for use of the drugs in cancer patients, the Food and Drug Administration said in a letter released Tuesday by Reps. Pete Stark (D-Fremont) and Henry A.

Amgen Inc. said Wednesday it canceled plans for a $1-billion manufacturing plant in Ireland and would eliminate all 75 company jobs in the country. The decision is linked to the "evolving business environment," the Thousand Oaks-based company said. Amgen said it would shut down its operations in Ireland while plans for the plant were postponed indefinitely.

Amgen Inc. said Thursday that European regulators had proposed special warnings and reduced dosing recommendations for the use of anemia drugs, including its top-selling Aranesp. The new prescribing information may say that studies show more deaths associated with increased dosing of anemia medications and that the drugs haven't been shown to improve overall survival in cancer patients with anemia, Thousand Oaks-based Amgen said.

Amgen Inc. said Tuesday that 675 jobs would be cut at its headquarters in Thousand Oaks, adding to the economic woes of the region. The local layoffs are part of the details the biotech giant released about its previously announced reduction of as many as 2,600 positions. As Ventura County's largest private employer, Amgen has been a major economic factor in the county and western Los Angeles County, where other prominent companies also have cut back.

In a major reprieve for Amgen Inc., an FDA advisory panel decided Tuesday not to recommend strict limits on doses of the company's anemia medicines for kidney disease and dialysis patients. After a daylong meeting in Maryland during which outside experts and Amgen representatives made presentations to the panel, its 19 members voted to recommend that the Food and Drug Administration not restrict what doses of the drugs doctors prescribed for patients.

It's been a brutal summer for Amgen Inc. -- and the heat goes on. After a series of regulatory setbacks, layoffs and financial jolts, the company faces additional hurdles over the next few weeks surrounding its top-selling anemia drugs, Epogen and Aranesp, which together accounted for nearly 50% of Amgen's sales last year. Depending on how the next month plays out, Amgen's recent blues could begin to lift.

Amgen Inc. and Johnson & Johnson may have to limit doses of anemia drugs to lower risks for patients, U.S. regulators said Friday. The change would reduce revenue from the top-selling medicines. The anemia drugs, marketed as Aranesp and Epogen by Amgen and Procrit by J&J, raised the danger of heart attacks, strokes and death at high doses, staff of the Food and Drug Administration said in an analysis posted on the agency's website.

Despite a soft housing market and the layoffs planned by Amgen Inc. and Countrywide Financial Corp., the Ventura County economy is expected to remain stable and those workers who lose their jobs are likely to find other employment in the region, according to a new economic report.

In a boost for troubled Amgen Inc., the Senate called on federal Medicare regulators to reassess a recent decision to restrict coverage of the company's top-selling anemia drugs, sending shares of the Thousand Oaks-based biotech giant up nearly 2%. The Senate's nonbinding resolution, approved without debate Tuesday, criticized Medicare's decision in late July to sharply restrict coverage of Amgen's anti-anemia treatments, Epogen and Aranesp.

Amgen Inc. said Tuesday that a federal court had ruled that a Roche Holding product infringes an Amgen anemia drug patent. A trial on other Amgen claims that Roche infringed patents covering its anemia products is set to begin in U.S. Federal District Court in Boston on Tuesday. Thousand Oaks-based Amgen's anemia franchise, which brought in $6.6 billion in sales last year, has been under siege because of safety concerns and a pullback in coverage by the U.S.