Drugmaker lays off 300 employees

Drugmaker Amgen said on Monday that it let go about 300 U.S. employees or about 1.2% of its total workforce, citing recent organizational changes to its commercial team.

The company had about 24,200 staff members in over 50 countries, as of December 31, 2021, according to its latest annual regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Big Tech firms and Wall Street titans have led a string of layoffs across corporate America in recent weeks. Amgen’s move to trim its workforce shows how rapid interest rate hikes and a fading boom in demand post pandemic has begun to weigh on the healthcare sector.

About Amgen

Amgen’s website says it 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 2022, Amgen was named one of the “World’s Best Employers” by Forbes and one of “America’s 100 Most Sustainable Companies” by Barron’s.