Amgen sheds around 40 staffers amid continuing struggles

Biotech Amgen sheds around 40 staffers amid continuing struggles By Darren Incorvaia Jul 24, 2026 4:45pm Amgen biotech layoffs layoffs pipeline Amgen has laid off around 40 employees as part of “organizational changes” meant to better align operations with the company’s strategic objectives, Fierce has learned. An Amgen spokesperson confirmed the layoffs, adding that the pharma is “committed to supporting our employees through this transition” and that the decision impacts about 0.1% of its global workforce. The spokesperson declined to share which of Amgen’s teams or locations were affected. The California biotech giant has faced a rocky road in recent months. The company’s rare disease drug Tavneos, acquired in a $3.7 billion buyout of ChemoCentryx and approved for ANCA-associated vasculitis, has faced mounting regulatory scrutiny at home and abroad this year. The scrutiny centers on liver toxicity issues and concerns with the ChemoCentryx-run study that aided the drug’s approvals in Europe, the U.S. and beyond. Yesterday, Amgen furnished the FDA with data and analyses to help secure a hearing in hopes of keeping Tavneos on the U.S. market. The company earlier this year resisted calls from the FDA to voluntarily pull the drug off the market. Amgen has also faced a series of pipeline setbacks in recent months. The company scrapped a phase 2 Sjögren’s disease candidate and a phase 1 oral small molecule for ulcerative colitis after both under-impressed. Amgen also terminated its rocatinlimab collaboration with Kyowa Kirin in January, five years after paying $400 million for rights to the autoimmune disease drug candidate. But Amgen has also seen signs of potential redemption in lupus, with daxdilimab, a monoclonal antibody acquired from Horizon Therapeutics in 2023. That asset hit the primary endpoint in a phase 2 trial for discoid lupus erythematosus in February. In March, meanwhile, Amgen laid off 22 staffers as part of that $27.8 billion Horizon buyout. Next year will be a big one for the Thousand Oaks outfit, as Amgen’s six phase 3 trials for potential next-gen weight loss blockbuster MariTide start to read out. Amgen biotech layoffs layoffs pipeline Biotech