Amgen Has 1st Profitable Year Since Its Founding

Amgen reported net income of $205,000 for its fourth quarter ended March 31, giving the Newbury Park biotechnology company three profitable quarters in a row and its first profitable year since it was founded in 1980. Revenue for the quarter was $6.9 million, up 51%.

The company’s net income came to 2 cents a share in the fourth quarter, contrasted with a loss of $1.7 million, or 16 cents a share, in the same quarter a year ago.

For the year, Amgen earned $548,000, or 5 cents a share, contrasted with a loss of $7.8 million, or 72 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue for the year was $23.4 million, up 131%.

“The past year has been a function of the increasing number of corporate partners,” said Philip J. Whitcome, the company’s director of strategic planning.

Amgen’s partners in various projects include Johnson & Johnson and Eastman Kodak. The company said it signed a definitive agreement with SmithKline / Beckman to develop a drug that regulates growth rates in pigs. Amgen gets little income from product sales, but revenue from its partners’ contributions rose to $20.2 million for the year ended March 31, up 211% from the year before.

Amgen announced the resignation of Nowell Stebbing, its senior vice president for science and technology, effective May 30. Company officials said Stebbing quit for personal reasons, including his family’s desire to go home to England. No successor was named. Amgen said it has named Steven M. Odre as patent counsel. He was previously assistant patent counsel at G. D. Searle.