Amgen Drug Approved for Use Against AIDS Virus in Britain

A top-selling drug manufactured by Amgen Inc. of Thousand Oaks has received approval in the United Kingdom to be used in the treatment of those infected with HIV, the immunodeficiency virus linked to AIDS.

The drug, Neupogen, is approved for use in the United States in the treatment of cancer patients receiving chemotherapy and for bone marrow transplant recipients.

Amgen is conducting clinical trials in a bid to win approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to use Neupogen on HIV patients in the United States. However, the drug is already being used, without FDA approval, by many doctors for HIV treatment here.

Neupogen is used to stimulate white blood cells, which battle infection. Those with HIV often have suppressed white blood cell production due to the virus itself or as a side effect of medicines used to treat the virus.

Amgen had worldwide sales of $936 million in 1995 for Neupogen, $274 million of which came from foreign markets. Overall, Amgen reported a net income of $538 million on sales of $1.8 billion in 1995, compared with a net income of $320 million on sales of $1.5 billion in 1994.

“Neupogen already is used to a pretty good extent [for HIV] even without the approval. But once we have approval, it allows us to proactively go out and market the drug for that use,” said David Kaye, a spokesman for the biotech company. “Typically, once you get one of the European unions to approve a drug, the others fall in line.”

Amgen is collaborating with Swiss drug maker Hoffman-LaRoche to seek approval for Neupogen throughout Europe.