GLOBAL BIOTECHNOLOGY LEADER AMGEN BREAKS GROUND ON NEW MANUFACTURING FACILITY IN NORTH CAROLINA

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Mar 07, 2022, 16:00 ET

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif., March 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) today announced the groundbreaking of its newest biomanufacturing facility, located in Holly Springs, North Carolina. The facility, expected to be operational by 2025, will support the growing demand for Amgen's medicines that treat serious illnesses such as cancer and heart disease.

"Amgen is adding to North Carolina's strong economic growth with the addition of its newest manufacturing plant to our already robust biomanufacturing ecosystem," said Roy Cooper, Governor of North Carolina. "We welcome Amgen's choice to build a state-of-the-art facility in our world-renowned Research Triangle region, bringing more than 350 high-quality new jobs to our state."

Amgen's facility will utilize new technologies that maximize efficiency and help ensure the ability to produce a broad range of medicines that Amgen offers to patients. The new facility will also be built to exacting environmental standards, consistent with the company's goal of reducing water usage and waste and achieving carbon neutrality by 2027. Construction management and design services for this new state-of-the-art facility are being led by Integrated Project Services, LLC.

"For over four decades, Amgen has been an innovative leader in the manufacturing of complex biologics. Our commitment to continuous improvement and our significant investments in new technologies have enabled us to further accomplish our mission to serve patients while science rapidly evolves," said Robert A. Bradway, chairman and chief executive officer of Amgen. "We are delighted to be building our newest facility in North Carolina, a major hub for biopharmaceutical innovation."

Amgen's selection of North Carolina was driven, in part, by access to diverse talent. Amgen is a founding member of the OneTen Coalition, a coalition of 35 of the world's largest, best-known companies which plans to use its resources to change the employment paradigm for Blacks in the United States. The Coalition aims to hire one million Black Americans into good-paying, family-sustaining jobs over the next ten years. To achieve this goal, Amgen will work with businesses, educational institutions, and training partners to better develop, retain and advance diverse talent, focusing on Black Americans without four-year college degrees.

Through the Amgen Foundation, the company is committed to inspiring the next generation of innovators in the Research Triangle region by partnering with local high schools to bring students the "Amgen Biotech Experience." This program, one of many offered by the Amgen Foundation, provides teachers with the resources they need to bring a hands-on biotech learning experience into their classrooms. To date, this program has reached nearly 850,000 students around the world. The Amgen Foundation is the principal channel for Amgen's corporate philanthropy and, to date, has contributed over $325 million to nonprofit organizations advancing excellence in science education and strengthening the communities where the company's employees live and work.

Last year, Amgen was named one of the World's Best Workplaces™ by Fortune magazine and Great Place to Work^® and was also named by Forbes magazine as one of "America's Best Employers for Diversity" for the fourth straight year. In 2022, Amgen was named to Newsweek magazine's list of "America's Most Responsible Companies" for the third consecutive year; JUST Capital's list of "America's Most JUST Companies" for the fifth consecutive year; Barron's list of "America's Most Sustainable Companies" for the second consecutive year; and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's list of "Best Places to Work for LGBTQ+ Equality" for the sixth consecutive year.

Amgen has approximately 24,000 employees worldwide. The company has manufacturing facilities in California, Ireland, Netherlands, Ohio, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island and Singapore.

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.

Amgen is one of the 30 companies that comprise the Dow Jones Industrial Average and is also part of the Nasdaq-100 index. In 2021, Amgen was named one of the 25 World's Best Workplaces™ by Fortune and Great Place to Work™ and one of the 100 most sustainable companies in the world by Barron's.

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 any statements on the outcome, benefits and synergies of collaborations, or potential collaborations, with any other company (including BeiGene, Ltd., Kyowa-Kirin Co., Ltd., or any collaboration to manufacture therapeutic antibodies against COVID-19), the performance of Otezla® (apremilast) (including anticipated Otezla sales growth and the timing of non-GAAP EPS accretion), the Five Prime Therapeutics, Inc. acquisition, or the Teneobio, Inc. acquisition, as well as 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, effects of pandemics or other widespread health problems such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on our business, 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. 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. We or others could identify safety, side effects or manufacturing problems with our products, including our devices, after they are on the market. 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. An outbreak of disease or similar public health threat, such as COVID-19, and the public and governmental effort to mitigate against the spread of such disease, could have a significant adverse effect on the supply of materials for our manufacturing activities, the distribution of our products, the commercialization of our product candidates, and our clinical trial operations, and any such events may have a material adverse effect on our product development, product sales, business and results of operations. We rely on collaborations with third parties for the development of some of our product candidates and for the commercialization and sales of some of our commercial products. 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. 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, 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 collaborate with or acquire other companies, products, or technology, and to integrate the operations of companies or to support the products or technology 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 and operations may be negatively affected by the failure, or perceived failure, of achieving our environmental, social and governance objectives. The effects of global climate change and related natural disasters could negatively affect our business and operations. Global economic conditions may magnify certain risks that affect our business. 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
Megan Fox, 805-447-1423 (media)
Michael Strapazon, 805-313-5553 (media)
Arvind Sood, 805-447-1060 (investors)

References

Reductions take into account only verified reduction projections, do not take into account changes associated with the contraction or expansion of Amgen, and are compared to a 2019 baseline. Carbon neutrality goal refers to Scope 1 and 2.

SOURCE Amgen