Amgen President Resigns to Pursue Other Interests

Harry F. Hixson Jr., president and chief operating officer of Amgen Inc., announced his resignation Thursday, effective immediately, from the Thousand Oaks biotechnology company.

Hixson, 52, joined the company in 1985 and had been president since October, 1988. Hixson said he was leaving to pursue other interests. An Amgen spokesman said that Hixson was leaving on good terms with the company and that his departure was his decision. Amgen’s chief executive, Gordon M. Binder, will assume some of Hixson’s duties.

Before joining Amgen, Hixson held various executive posts with Abbott Laboratories, a Chicago-based health-care products concern where Amgen founder George B. Rathmann also worked.

Amgen has become one of the major biotechnology concerns on the strength of its first drug, which treats chronic anemia in patients suffering from kidney disease. The drug has been selling at the rate of about $300 million a year. Hixson’s resignation was announced after the stock market closed. Amgen’s stock, which has nearly quadrupled in the past year, closed Thursday at $80.125 per share, down $2.875.