Struggling biotech giant Amgen Inc. of Thousand Oaks, Calif., unveiled Friday a new board member, former Citigroup Inc. banker Francois de Carbonnel. The 61-year-old spent seven years at Citigroup in various positions, including managing director of its global corporate and investment bank, is current chairman of French electronics firm Thomson SA and serves on several other boards.
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He's the 12th board member and only the second new one since 2004 for Amgen, a run of stability in otherwise turbulent times for the firm. Amgen's flagship franchise of bioengineered proteins that fight anemia in cancer and dialysis patients have come under fire since late 2006. Safety warnings moved government regulators to rein in prescriptions of Amgen's Epogen, Aranesp, and other blood-boosting drugs. (The class of drugs are collectively known as erythropoetic stimulating agents, or ESAs.)
The new regulations and safety worries have cut deeply into sales. Epogen and Aranesp tallied $6 billion in 2007 sales, down more than 12% from 2006, and continue to fall this year. The firm hopes its experimental osteoporosis drug denosumab, currently in late-stage trials, will revive its fortunes.
But it remains to be seen if Amgen, slimmed down from 14% staff cuts, can bring d-mab to market on its own or needs help from a larger partner. -
Alex Lash
