Amgen Announces Rhode Island Will Be Location Of First US Next-Generation Biomanufacturing Plant

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif., April 10, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) today announced plans to build a new state-of-the-art next-generation biomanufacturing plant at its campus in West Greenwich, R.I. The new plant, the first of its kind in the United States (U.S.), will employ Amgen's proven next-generation biomanufacturing capabilities and manufacture products for the U.S. and global markets.

A next-generation biomanufacturing plant incorporates multiple innovative technologies into a single facility, and therefore is built in half the construction time with approximately one half of the operating cost of a traditional plant. Next-generation biomanufacturing plants require a smaller manufacturing footprint and offer greater environmental benefits, including reduced consumption of water and energy and lower levels of carbon emissions.

"Amgen has three decades of experience in biologics manufacturing, and we are proud of our track record of providing a reliable supply of high-quality medicines for patients around the world," said Esteban Santos, executive vice president of Operations at Amgen. "We are pleased to build the first commercial scale, next-generation biomanufacturing plant in the U.S., leveraging Amgen's capabilities and incorporating the latest technologies."

A comprehensive evaluation of global locations was conducted to select the location. Following recent U.S. federal tax reform, which provides company incentives to invest in innovation and advanced technologies, Amgen made the decision to locate the new plant in the U.S. Rhode Island was selected based on the historical success of the Amgen West Greenwich manufacturing facility, its capabilities and talented workforce, and quality of living for staff and potential to grow. The biomanufacturing plant will be built on the current Amgen Rhode Island 75-acre campus and is expected to create approximately 150 additional highly-skilled manufacturing positions and approximately 200 construction and validation jobs.

"I am thrilled that Amgen is planning to expand and bring new, highly skilled jobs to Rhode Island and further enhance the State's life sciences community and manufacturing expertise," said Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo. "We welcome Amgen's future health care advancements for patients around the world that will come from this new biomanufacturing plant."

Amgen opened its first next-generation biomanufacturing plant in Singapore in 2014. This type of plant offers a highly flexible, modular design which can be replicated in future facilities, which enables Amgen to increase production capabilities reliably with greater speed, productivity and flexibility. Within the plant, the equipment is portable, smaller and disposable, which provides greater flexibility and speed when manufacturing different medicines simultaneously. This eliminates costly and complex retrofitting inherent in standard facilities and allows Amgen to respond to changing demands with increased agility, ultimately impacting the speed at which a medicine is available for patients.

"We are excited that Amgen Rhode Island was chosen as the location to build the new biomanufacturing plant," said Tia Bush, vice president of Operations at Amgen Rhode Island. "It is a testament to our skilled, dedicated workforce and Amgen's continued presence in Rhode Island, which will enable ongoing collaborations with local academic institutions and the broader Rhode Island community."

The existing Amgen Rhode Island plant was licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in September 2005 and houses one of the world's largest mammalian protein manufacturing facilities. The facility manufactures commercial and clinical bulk drug substance. Amgen has invested more than $1.5 billion in its Rhode Island site, adding more than 500,000 square feet of manufacturing, utility, administrative and laboratory space to the campus. There are 625 full-time staff members employed at the Amgen Rhode Island campus.

Amgen Rhode Island has been awarded by the Providence Business News as one of Rhode Island's Best Places to Work more than 10 times since 2007.

Since 2004, the Amgen Foundation has committed over $4.8 million to support science education and community programs in Rhode Island.

About Amgen
Amgen is committed to unlocking the potential of biology for patients suffering from serious illnesses by discovering, developing, manufacturing and delivering innovative human therapeutics. This approach begins by using tools like advanced human genetics to unravel the complexities of disease and understand the fundamentals of human biology.

Amgen focuses on areas of high unmet medical need and leverages its expertise to strive for solutions that improve health outcomes and dramatically improve people's lives. A biotechnology pioneer since 1980, Amgen has grown to be one of the world's leading independent biotechnology companies, has reached millions of patients around the world and is developing a pipeline of medicines with breakaway potential.

For more information, visit www.amgen.com and follow us on www.twitter.com/amgen.

Forward-Looking Statements 
This news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on the current expectations and beliefs of Amgen. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including estimates of revenues, operating margins, capital expenditures, cash, other financial metrics, expected legal, arbitration, political, regulatory or clinical results or practices, customer and prescriber patterns or practices, reimbursement activities and outcomes and other such estimates and results. Forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties, including those discussed below and more fully described in the Securities and Exchange Commission reports filed by Amgen, including our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequent periodic reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on  Form 8-K. Unless otherwise noted, Amgen is providing this information as of the date of this news release and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this document as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed and actual results may differ materially from those we project.  Discovery or identification of new product candidates or development of new indications for existing products cannot be guaranteed and movement from concept to product is uncertain; consequently, there can be no guarantee that any particular product candidate or development of a new indication for an existing product will be successful and become a commercial product. Further, preclinical results do not guarantee safe and effective performance of product candidates in humans. The complexity of the human body cannot be perfectly, or sometimes, even adequately modeled by computer or cell culture systems or animal models. The length of time that it takes for us to complete clinical trials and obtain regulatory approval for product marketing has in the past varied and we expect similar variability in the future. Even when clinical trials are successful, regulatory authorities may question the sufficiency for approval of the trial endpoints we have selected. We develop product candidates internally and through licensing collaborations, partnerships and joint ventures. Product candidates that are derived from relationships may be subject to disputes between the parties or may prove to be not as effective or as safe as we may have believed at the time of entering into such relationship. Also, we or others could identify safety, side effects or manufacturing problems with our products, including our devices, after they are on the market.

Our results may be affected by our ability to successfully market both new and existing products domestically and internationally, clinical and regulatory developments involving current and future products, sales growth of recently launched products, competition from other products including biosimilars, difficulties or delays in manufacturing our products and global economic conditions. In addition, sales of our products are affected by pricing pressure, political and public scrutiny and reimbursement policies imposed by third-party payers, including governments, private insurance plans and managed care providers and may be affected by regulatory, clinical and guideline developments and domestic and international trends toward managed care and healthcare cost containment. Furthermore, our research, testing, pricing, marketing and other operations are subject to extensive regulation by domestic and foreign government regulatory authorities. Our business may be impacted by government investigations, litigation and product liability claims. In addition, our business may be impacted by the adoption of new tax legislation or exposure to additional tax liabilities. If we fail to meet the compliance obligations in the corporate integrity agreement between us and the U.S. government, we could become subject to significant sanctions. Further, while we routinely obtain patents for our products and technology, the protection offered by our patents and patent applications may be challenged, invalidated or circumvented by our competitors, or we may fail to prevail in present and future intellectual property litigation. We perform a substantial amount of our commercial manufacturing activities at a few key facilities, including in Puerto Rico, and also depend on third parties for a portion of our manufacturing activities, and limits on supply may constrain sales of certain of our current products and product candidate development. In addition, we compete with other companies with respect to many of our marketed products as well as for the discovery and development of new products. Further, some raw materials, medical devices and component parts for our products are supplied by sole third-party suppliers. Certain of our distributors, customers and payers have substantial purchasing leverage in their dealings with us. The discovery of significant problems with a product similar to one of our products that implicate an entire class of products could have a material adverse effect on sales of the affected products and on our business and results of operations. Our efforts to acquire other companies or products and to integrate the operations of companies we have acquired may not be successful. A breakdown, cyberattack or information security breach could compromise the confidentiality, integrity and availability of our systems and our data. Our stock price is volatile and may be affected by a number of events. Our business performance could affect or limit the ability of our Board of Directors to declare a dividend or our ability to pay a dividend or repurchase our common stock. We may not be able to access the capital and credit markets on terms that are favorable to us, or at all.

CONTACT: Amgen, Thousand Oaks
Kristen Davis, 805-447-3008 (media)
Kristen Neese, 805-313-8267 (media)
Arvind Sood, 805-447-1060 (investors)

SOURCE Amgen

Related Links

http://www.amgen.com