Robert Bradway

It's a great time to helm a large biotech company, generally. Big biotech players overall posted major growth last year, and their CEOs got richer in the process. Most got fat raises while others saw their bundles of pay pale in comparison to 2011 figures. We surveyed the total compensation packages of the 10 largest biotech companies based on market capitalization as of early May, sleuthing mostly proxy statements for the financial details on pay for some of the most powerful people in the industry. Check it out >>

Amgen's new CEO scored a big raise when he was promoted last year. Robert Bradway took over from ex-chief Kevin Sharer at the end of May, and by year's end, he had racked up $13.57 million in compensation for the year, almost twice what he made in 2011 as president and COO. And his predecessor's pay dropped by half, knocking him off our list of highest-paid biopharma executives.

The Thousand Oaks, CA-based biotech powerhouse made an unexpected move in December to buy the pioneering genomics company deCODE for $415 million. Today R&D chief Dr. Sean Harper further explained how the capabilities of the company fit within the broader strategy at Amgen to be more discerning about which research programs to pursue.

Amgen has been a constant surprise to investors this year, beating sales expectations last quarter and posting one of the biggest share run-ups of any of the major drug companies this year. But the biotech's new CEO did it again, with the company announcing a whopping 30% increase in its share dividend.