| Amgen chief plays down competition, plans expansion | Posted on 02/03/2006 in Pharmaceutical Company Restructures Amgen's chief executive has played down the possible effect of generic biotech drugs on the company, as the company announced significant expansion.
Kevin Sharer told reporters that the biotechnology treatments were far more complex to produce than chemically based drugs, and that the affect of a generic would not be easy to predict, AFX reported.
"It's not like pills, where almost overnight you can lose 98 per cent market share," he said, adding "It'll have an effect on Amgen, for sure, but it's just hard to predict
what."
Mr Sharer said further that the first biosimilar drugs would likely emerge in Europe by the end of this year or next. The company's Epogen patent has already expired in the region, while Novartis recently made an application to manufacture a generic version of a biotechnology drug.
Sharer also said that the company is planning to expand its US sites.
The company hopes to add 200 employees to its research and development centre in Cambridge, Mass., and also wants to recruit more workers to its current manufacturing facilities in Greenwich, Rhode Island.
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