Amgen Inc. on Thursday said it would lay off about 450 employees, or less than 2% of its workforce, as it faces increasing pressure from drug prices and high inflation.
“We made these changes to realign our expense base in the face of intensifying pressure on drug prices and high levels of inflation so that we can continue to deliver value for our patients, staff and shareholders,” an Amgen spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
It’s the second round of layoffs for the biopharmaceutical company this year; in January, it laid off about 300 employees.
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Amgen
AMGN,
had about 25,200 employees worldwide as of Dec. 31, 2022, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
In January, the company beat Wall Street’s earnings expectations for the fourth quarter, but issued a 2023 forecast that was on the lower end of analysts’ expectations.
Last month, Amgen said it planned to borrow $24 billion in corporate bonds to help fund its acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics
HZNP,
which would rank in the Top 10 in terms of largest deals ever financed in the U.S. investment-grade corporate bond market, according to Informa data.
Amgen shares have fallen 11% year to date, but are down less than 1% over the past 12 months. The S&P 500
SPX,
in comparison, is up 3% in 2023 and down 10% over the past year.