Gov. Brown vetoes Amgen-backed anti-biosimilars bill
Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a bill supported by Thousand Oaks-based Amgen and other biotechnology companies that would have made it more difficult for pharmacists to dispense so-called biosimilars, the biotech industry’s analogue to generic pharmaceuticals.
Senate Bill 598, approved by both houses of the legislature, looked mostly like a procedural change to state’s pharmacy laws. If it passed, the bill would have allowed pharmacists to fill prescriptions with biosimilars that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration deems “interchangeable” with brand-name counterparts.
Amgen deals could foster biotech hub, panel says
Amgen’s decision to license some of its intellectual property to a new drug company that will operate near the biotechnical giant’s Thousand Oaks headquarters could be an exciting development for biotech firms in the 101 corridor, business leaders were told at a breakfast gathering Wednesday in Westlake Village. The move could be a start toward Read More →
Amgen’s profits jump as forecast brightens
Amgen reported higher-than-expected earnings on Oct. 23 and raised its outlook for the rest of the year. Amgen’s earnings are regionally significant because the Thousand Oaks biotech firm is Ventura County’s largest private sector employer. The company turned in adjusted third-quarter earnings of $1.67 a share, topping the Wall Street estimate of $1.47 by a Read More →
Amgen to buy Turkish firm in $700M deal
Thousand Oaks-based Amgen said it will acquire Mustafa Nevzat Pharmaceuticals, a major supplier of pharmaceuticals and injectable medicines in Turkey, in a deal that values the Turkish firm at $700 million. Amgen said that its focus on Turkey and the surrounding region is part of a broad international expansion strategy for the company. Amgen established Read More →
Amgen’s founding CEO dies
George Rathmann, the founding CEO of Thousand Oaks-based Amgen, has died, the company said April 23. Born in 1927, Rathmann helmed what is now Ventura County’s largest private-sector employer from 1980 to 1988 and was the chairman of the board until 1990. He had been recruited by Bill Bowes, one of Amgen’s founders, to run Read More →
Ceres delays again, warns of Brazilian drought
Ceres, the Thousand Oaks-based energy crop firm, has delayed its initial public offering again. It also said Friday that its existing investors might buy as many as a fifth of the shares slated to hit the market and that a drought in Brazil could hurt it sweet sorghum yields. The pushed back its planned initial Read More →
Ceres delays its IPO, slashes price
Thousand Oaks-based energy crop maker Ceres has drastically lowered expectations for its initial public offering and delayed it for a week, according to regulatory filings and investment banking sources. The company was set to raise as much as $132 million on the Nasdaq when shares hit the markets under the name CERE on Feb. 9. Read More →
