American biotechnology company Amgen said that it would cut 450 jobs citing increasing pressure on drug prices and high inflation.
Accounting for less than 2% of its total global workforce of over 25,000, the latest move is Amgen’s second round of layoffs this year.
In late January this year, the company laid off 300 jobs in the US, as part of organisational changes.
In a statement to Reuters, a company spokeswoman confirming the latest job cuts, said: “We made these changes to realign our expense base in the face of intensifying pressure on drug prices and high levels of inflation.”
As per Amgen’s latest annual regulatory filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the firm had around 25,200 staff members working across 50-plus countries, as of 31 December 2022.
The first round of job cuts mainly affected the company’s commercial operations.
Amgen said that the company will support the laid-off employees by providing transition services and severance.
The company recorded overall revenue of $6.84bn for the fourth quarter of last year, which remained flat compared to the revenue for the same period in 2021.
For the full year 2022, Amgen’s total revenues were up by 1% to $26.3bn, owing to a 2% growth in sales of its products.
Recently, the US-based company announced the US launch of Amjevita (adalimumab-atto), a biosimilar to AbbVie’s antibody therapy Humira (adalimumab). Amgen is offering the drug in a citrate-free formulation, similar to Humira, to help reduce pain at the injection site.
