Amgen ($AMGN) is planning to lay off 380 R&D employees, according to reports that emerged Wednesday afternoon. The announcement comes roughly a week after rumblings that Amgen was planning to reorganize its R&D operations.
The company will not shutter any of its sites, nor will it eliminate any therapeutic areas, spokeswoman Mary Klem said, as quoted by Xconomy. Amgen will discuss its plans more fully Monday on its quarterly financial conference call.
Amgen had raised its R&D spending in Q2 to $808 million as three drugs moved into larger clinical studies, thus requiring more resources, spokeswoman Mary Klem said, according to Bloomberg. "We will continue to invest in our R&D," Klem added in an interview. "This doesn't represent an across-the board cut."
Seventy of the affected employees will be in the Seattle area, according to the Puget Sound Business Journal. Jobs will also be eliminated in Boston, San Francisco and Thousand Oaks, CA.
News of the job cuts come the same day Amgen announced the appointment of Anthony Hooper as executive VP, global commercial operations, effective Oct. 26. He joins Amgen after 16 years at Bristol-Myers Squibb ($BMY), where he was most recently senior VP, commercial operations and president, U.S., Japan and Intercontinental.
- read Amgen's release on Hooper
- check out the Puget Sound Business Journal report
- read more from Bloomberg
- get more from Xconomy