Amgen to Invest $300 Million in New Biomanufacturing Facility

In its Feb. 1, 2018 earnings release for full-year 2017, Amgen announced that it expects to invest up to $300 million to build a new manufacturing facility in the United States as part of an overall $3.5-billion investment in capital expenditures over the next five years. Approximately 75% of the overall investment will be in the US.

The new manufacturing facility will employ Amgen's next-generation biomanufacturing capabilities and will be used to manufacture products for the US and export markets. According to the company, next-generation biomanufacturing requires less time and less capital investment to build than a traditional biomanufacturing plant. It is also less costly to operate and has less of an environmental impact, states the company.

Construction and validation work is expected to add 220 jobs to the local economy, and the company expects to employ up to 300 skilled employees at the new facility. The company expects to finalize the exact location of the new facility in the second quarter of 2018.

The company is increasing its investments to drive additional volume-driven growth of new therapeutics in large patient populations. In addition, the company is increasing the size of the Amgen Ventures fund by providing up to $300 million of growth capital for early stage, innovative biotechnology companies in the US.

"With strong volume-driven growth for our recently launched products and a promising new product pipeline, we are well positioned for future growth," said Robert A. Bradway, chairman and CEO of Amgen, in the company's earnings release. "We expect several developments to provide an additional boost for these products, most notably the recent inclusion of cardiovascular outcomes data in the Repatha (evolocumab) prescribing information."

For the fourth quarter of 2017, Amgen's total revenues decreased 3% versus the fourth quarter of 2016 to $5.8 billion. For the full year, total revenues decreased 1% to $22.8 billion.

Source: Amgen