Amgen details plans for job cuts
Amgen Inc. said Tuesday that 675 jobs would be cut at its headquarters in Thousand Oaks, adding to the economic woes of the region.
The local layoffs are part of the details the biotech giant released about its previously announced reduction of as many as 2,600 positions.
As Ventura County’s largest private employer, Amgen has been a major economic factor in the county and western Los Angeles County, where other prominent companies also have cut back.
In August, Kevin Sharer, Amgen’s chairman, said the company would reduce its 20,000-employee workforce by as much as 13%. The cuts are part of the company’s sweeping corporate restructuring plan to save more than $1 billion over the next year.
Since the announcement, about 700 employees nationwide have accepted voluntary buyouts. Amgen executives declined to specify how many of those buyouts came from the Thousand Oaks campus.
The buyouts, attrition and a hiring freeze have allowed the company to reduce the total number of remaining layoffs to 1,500, in line with earlier projections, spokeswoman Sarah Rockwell said.
The company will slash 675 of about 8,200 jobs, or about 8%, at its Thousand Oaks campus. About 450 of roughly 1,700 jobs will be cut at the company’s West Greenwich, R.I., manufacturing facility, Rockwell said. The rest of the layoffs will come from the company’s other sites worldwide.
“This isn’t an easy time,” Rockwell said. “The company never wants to be in a situation where they have to lay off staff.”
Amgen employees received e-mails Monday alerting them of the latest reduction plans. The cuts are expected to be completed by early November.
The layoffs would “have a ripple impact” on the region’s economy, including slower economic growth and more conservative spending, said Jack Kyser, chief economist with the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. “Amgen is the biggest employer in that area, so this is rough. This shows you how quickly things can change.”
Just a few miles east in Calabasas, home loan giant Countrywide Financial Corp. said this month that it would cut as many as 12,000 jobs, or nearly 20% of its workforce nationwide, in the wake of the mortgage crisis and tighter credit standards.
A year ago, Amgen was at the top of the lucrative biotech industry. Its anemia drugs, Aranesp and Epogen, and one by Johnson & Johnson were being used to treat anemia in nearly 1 million patients a year who had cancer or kidney disease.
But starting late last year, a series of research studies found that Amgen’s anemia drugs might be dangerous in certain doses and to certain patients.
Regulators reacted swiftly. In the spring, the Food and Drug Administration added a new “black box” warning on the drugs’ labels. In August, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced plans to severely restrict reimbursement for the drugs.
At Amgen’s 194-acre Thousand Oaks campus, the mood among employees was “quiet,” Rockwell said. “We’re trying to keep their best interests in mind as we move forward.”
However, “the plan continues to be the appropriate response to the changes in our business environment,” she said.
Shares of Amgen fell 41 cents Tuesday to $54.88.
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