On April 8, 1980, founder Bill Bowes met with lawyers in Palo Alto to draw up official incorporation papers for Applied Molecular Genetics Inc., his latest venture capital project. He knew if he gathered the best researchers together, they would follow the science and discover molecules that would lead to powerful medicines and dramatically improve the quality of people’s lives.
Bowes began the company with a handful of investors and George Rathmann, a scrappy CEO who made his office in a small corner of a structure now known as Building 1 on Amgen’s Thousand Oaks campus. It wasn’t long before a small team of scientists assembled and began ordering test tubes and centrifuges.
Today, a quarter century later, 14,000 Amgen staff members in 27 countries have built the company into a biotechnology leader, bringing forth extraordinary therapeutics that have touched the lives of more than eight million patients.
Looking back on our scientific heritage, we find that our past and present share common themes: pioneering science, innovation, important medicines, serving patients, living our values, and dramatically improving people’s lives. Today we continue to lead the biotechnology industry and deliver on its potential, following the science wherever it leads to find new and better ways to fight serious illnesses.
Living our values, aspiration and mission will always be central to our approach. But Amgen’s contribution goes beyond the medicines we deliver to patients. We support science education to nurture future generations of scientists. We contribute to the communities in which we live and work. And we embrace both the responsibility and the opportunity associated with being a leading human therapeutics company in the biotechnology industry.
With $10 billion in annual revenue, a strong pipeline, and an ongoing dedication to our mission to serve patients, Amgen science is geared toward delivering vital medicines for the next 25 years -- and beyond.