Amgen CFO resigns amid SEC inquiry
Amgen Inc. on Tuesday announced the departure of its chief financial officer, after a difficult year for the Thousand Oaks-based biotech giant and recent questions about how forthright its executives had been with investors.
Richard Nanula’s exit comes after a series of new studies have raised safety questions about two of Amgen’s top-selling drugs, anemia medications Epogen and Aranesp.
It also comes amid questions why senior executives, including Nanula, did not immediately disclose the negative findings of one of those trials in October. Amgen disclosed the setback four months later, after the news had been reported by an industry newsletter on Feb. 16.
The Securities and Exchange Commission opened an informal inquiry into the issue.
Nanula has been replaced by Robert Bradway, 44, who joined Amgen last year as vice president of operations strategy. Before joining Amgen, Bradway had spent nearly two decades at investment bank Morgan Stanley.
The company said Nanula, 46, was leaving voluntarily on good terms to “pursue other opportunities.” He will stay on for three months to help with the transition, Amgen spokesman Dave Polk said.
“I had no idea this was happening “ Shiv Kapoor, a biotech analyst at Montgomery & Co., said of the management change. “Obviously this isn’t the best time for a change like this.”
Nanula joined Amgen as executive vice president in May 2001 and was appointed chief financial officer in August 2001. He is a member of Amgen’s executive committee.
Before joining Amgen, Nanula was chairman and chief executive at Broadband Sports Inc., a Los Angeles-based Internet media company.
He also served as president and chief operating officer for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. in New York and had held a variety of executive positions at Walt Disney Co.
Nanula earned $812,000 in 2006, according to the company’s most recent proxy filing with the SEC.
He is the first of Amgen’s “dream team” -- five senior executives hired by Chief Executive Kevin Sharer when he took over the top job in 2001 to help reinvigorate the company’s growth prospects -- to leave the company.
Other members of the group include George Morrow, executive vice president of global sales and marketing, and Roger Perlmutter, Amgen’s executive vice president of research and development.
In recent months, Amgen’s stock has fallen to its lowest level in nearly two years and some Wall Street analysts predict that if it doesn’t rise soon, the company may be open to unsolicited takeover bids.
The firm is facing financial pressures and sales have begun to slip in recent months amid growing concerns around its anemia product line, analysts say. The federal government is reviewing the medicines because of evidence that they pose elevated risks of heart attack, stroke and death.
Last week, JP Morgan lowered its earnings forecast for Amgen, citing the outlook for the drugs.
Amgen shares fell 7 cents to $57.12 during regular trading, then fell to $56.90 in after-hours trading. The management shift was announced after the market close.
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