Projo Biz Blog

Amgen Inc. cut 13 percent of its workforce last year, part of a massive cost-cutting effort.

Chief Executive Officer Kevin Sharer, speaking this morning at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, said his beleaguered company is "on track" to deliver the restructuring cost savings it had promised investors, according to a company summary of his remarks.

Although the cost-cutting resulted from plummeting sales of Amgen's anemia drugs, Amgen's Rhode Island facilities, which produce the rheumatoid arthritis drug Enbrel, were also deeply affected.

The facilities in West Greenwich saw total employment drop by 300, The Providence Journal reported last fall.

At today's conference, Sharer also said that Amgen had advanced 13 new molecules into development in 2007, and that 10 molecules are planned to move into mid-stage trials in 2008, according to the company's statement.

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