Amgen is expected to plead guilty to unspecified charges
Biotech giant Amgen Inc. is expected to plead guilty Tuesday in a criminal case in New York federal court, according to prosecutors.
The Thousand Oaks company is scheduled to enter a plea to unspecified charges, according to a notice from the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn. Federal prosecutors couldn’t be reached for further comment. Amgen didn’t respond to requests for comment late Monday.
Last month, Amgen said in a securities filing that it expected to pay $806 million to settle federal civil and criminal investigations related to its sales and marketing practices that were pending in the states of New York and Washington.
Those investigations had centered on Amgen’s top-selling anemia drugs, Aranesp and Epogen. Numerous states have sued Amgen, alleging that government health programs were overcharged for some of its drugs.
More recently, sales of Amgen’s anemia treatments have slumped, partly because of safety concerns. In the third quarter ended Sept. 30, sales of Aranesp dropped 17% to $497 million from the same period a year earlier.
