Newbury Park’s Amgen Enters Into Venture With Johnson & Johnson

Amgen, a Newbury Park biotechnology company, announced a joint venture with Johnson & Johnson that should bring it enough additional revenue to break even for its current fiscal year ending March 31, Amgen’s president said.

The joint venture, made final last week, covers three new pharmaceuticals: a vaccine against hepatitis B; a protein called erythropoietin, or EPO, which regulates red-blood-cell production, and interleukin-2, which stimulates the immune system.

The deal requires Johnson & Johnson to test the substances on people, and gives the New Jersey-based health products giant some world rights to all three products. The two companies both will manufacture the products.

“The agreements with Johnson & Johnson represent the largest revenue potential for Amgen of any corporate relationship established by us thus far,” Amgen president George Rathmann said.

Amgen, whose other product development partners include Upjohn, Texaco and Japan’s Kirin Brewery Co., said that clinical testing of the three products covered by the latest agreement should begin soon.

Rathmann said that payments from Johnson & Johnson for the current fiscal year should exceed $6 million and that future payments should be higher as product-development goals are achieved.

In the fiscal year ended March 31, 1985, Amgen lost $7.8 million on sales of $10.1 million.