PETRI DISH PERSPECTIVES: BIOTECH UNLEASHED

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PETRI DISH PERSPECTIVES: BIOTECH UNLEASHED

Episode 16: Amgen

August 14, 2025 • Manead Khin • Season 1 • Episode 15

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In this episode of Petri Dish Perspectives: Biotech Unleashed, we dive deep into the origin story of Amgen, a company that helped turn “biotechnology” from a niche lab concept into a global medical force.

We’ll trace Amgen’s unlikely beginnings in 1980, a time when gene splicing was still the stuff of scientific legend and meet the eclectic founding team: George Rathmann, the charismatic chemist-turned-executive; Winston Salser, the UCLA scientist eager to bring basic research to patients; Bill Bowes, the venture capitalist who had already bet big on Genentech; and Ray Schinazi, the young medicinal chemist destined to become an antiviral pioneer.

From its scrappy early days in Thousand Oaks to its first blockbuster drugs like Epogen and Neupogen, Amgen’s story is one of scientific daring, boardroom brinkmanship, and relentless pursuit of innovation. We’ll explore the company’s pivotal moments, the personalities who shaped its path, and how it helped define the modern biotech industry.

Whether you’re a biotech insider, a science history buff, or just curious about how life-saving drugs make it from idea to reality, this is one you won’t want to miss.

Listen now, stay curious, and don’t forget to subscribe for new episodes every Thursday!

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Hello and welcome to Petri Dish Perspectives: Biotech Unleashed, the podcast where we geek out about science and the companies shaping the future of healthcare. I’m your host, Manead, and I’m a PhD scientist by training, biotech storyteller by choice. With every new episode released on Thursday, my goal is to deliver digestible pieces of information on healthcare companies under 30 mins.

Today, we’re diving into the fascinating rise of Amgen, how it went from a cash-strapped startup to a global biotech giant worth over $150 billion, all while navigating science, risk, and reinvention. As always, I’m inspired by the resistance that these successful pharma companies have shown throughout the years.

Quick disclaimer: full credit goes to all original sources cited in the transcript.

Grab your coffee or tea, settle in, and let’s jump right in.

SEGMENT 1 – FOUNDING STORY: 1980 & THE MAN BEHIND IT

Amgen, short for Applied Molecular Genetics, was born in 1980, at a time when “biotechnology” was still a new and almost exotic word. Its creation wasn’t the result of a single eureka moment, but rather a meeting of minds between scientists, financiers, and visionaries who believed that recombinant DNA technology could transform medicine.

At the center of it all was George Rathmann, the man many call “the father of Amgen.”
Rathmann was born in 1927 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during the Great Depression. His childhood was defined by curiosity and a love for chemistry, which eventually led him to Northwestern University for his undergraduate degree. He later earned a PhD in physical chemistry from Princeton University, where he developed a reputation for being as comfortable in the lab as he was in front of an audience. Rathmann’s early career took him to Abbott Laboratories, where he rose through the ranks to become vice president of research and development. But Rathmann wasn’t just another executive in a suit, he had a flair for showmanship, a salesman’s gift for persuasion, and a restless belief that science could move faster if it were unshackled from the slow pace of traditional pharma.

When venture capitalists came knocking with an idea to form a biotech company on the West Coast, Rathmann didn’t hesitate. He saw an opportunity not just to make new drugs, but to create a new kind of drug company, one where cutting-edge molecular biology and rigorous business strategy lived side by side.

He wasn’t alone in that vision.

One of his earliest allies was Winston Salser, a UCLA molecular biologist with a deep belief in the power of translating basic research into real-world therapies. Salser had built his academic reputation studying how genes were regulated, but he was frustrated by the slow crawl from discovery to actual medicines. He was one of the first academics in California to argue that molecular biology could and should produce marketable therapeutics, not just scientific papers. Salser’s connection to UCLA gave Amgen early credibility in the scientific community and helped anchor the company in Southern California’s growing biotech ecosystem.

Backing the science was Bill Bowes, a San Francisco–based venture capitalist with a sharp eye for transformative technologies. Bowes wasn’t just any VC, he had been one of the earliest investors in Genentech, the company that practically invented the modern biotech business model. Bowes understood the staggering costs of bringing a drug to market, the delicate balance between risk and reward, and the importance of building a world-class executive team from day one. His financial backing and industry connections gave Amgen a sturdy foundation at a time when many biotech startups were running on fumes.

Rounding out this eclectic founding group was Ray Schinazi, a young but fiercely driven medicinal chemist. Born in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1950 to a Jewish family that had fled persecution in Libya, Schinazi emigrated to Europe as a child before earning his PhD in chemistry from the University of Bath in the UK. His early research in antiviral chemistry would later make him one of the most important figures in the fight against HIV and hepatitis C but in Amgen’s early days, he brought fresh energy, sharp scientific instincts, and a passion for applying chemistry to urgent medical problems.

Together, these four men created something rare in the corporate world, a startup that balanced scientific daring, business acumen, and mission-driven urgency. Rathmann brought charisma and leadership. Salser brought deep molecular biology expertise. Bowes brought the capital and strategic discipline. And Schinazi brought the innovative chemical thinking that would later become critical to biotech’s antiviral revolution.

In the spring of 1980, they incorporated Amgen in Thousand Oaks, California, with a mission statement that was almost radical at the time: to harness recombinant DNA technology to develop therapies for diseases that traditional medicine couldn’t yet touch. The biotech revolution was underway and Amgen was stepping into the arena.

The early days were scrappy. Amgen didn’t even have its own labs at first, it rented space, ran lean, and focused on one big bet: finding breakthrough biologics that would fill urgent gaps in medicine. Rathmann’s philosophy was clear: "Don’t follow the competition. Go where the biology leads you and the market needs you."

This philosophy would set Amgen apart from the beginning and the first big test was a protein called erythropoietin.

SEGMENT 2 – THE BREAKTHROUGH YEARS

By the early 1980s, researchers knew the body had a hormone that triggered red blood cell production, erythropoietin, or EPO. Patients with chronic kidney disease often couldn’t make enough EPO, leading to severe anemia, fatigue, and dangerous complications. Let me talk a bit on the history of this hormone.

Erythropoietin (EPO), a hormone that stimulates red blood cell production, was first proposed in 1906 by Paul Carnot and Clotilde Deflandre, who identified a "hemopoietin" factor in the blood of bled rabbits. While their work laid the foundation, the concept was further developed by Eva Bonsdorff and Eeva Jalavisto in 1948, who named the substance erythropoietin. Later, Allan Erslev in 1953 and then K.R. Reissmann provided evidence of a humoral mechanism, and Leon O. Jacobson, Eugene Goldwasser, Walter Fried, and Louis F. Plzak established the kidneys as the primary source of EPO in 1957.

The challenge? No one had ever purified enough EPO to study it, let alone make it into a drug. The hormone was produced deep inside the kidney and existed in vanishingly small amounts in the blood.

Amgen’s scientists, led by Fu-Kuen Lin, a brilliant and methodical molecular biologist, took on the challenge. In a race against bigger, richer competitors like Genetics Institute, Lin and his team used cutting-edge gene cloning techniques to isolate the gene for human EPO from kidney cells.

It was a race so intense it’s still remembered as one of biotech’s great scientific showdowns. Every week mattered. Every patent filing could mean victory or loss.

In 1983, Lin succeeded, cloning the human EPO gene and expressing it in Chinese hamster ovary cells, which could churn out biologically active EPO in large quantities. It was a triumph of molecular biology and industrial biotech.

This was more than just a lab win. For patients with end-stage kidney disease, it meant freedom from exhausting blood transfusions. For cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, it offered a way to regain energy and reduce hospitalization.

Amgen (AMGN) went public with an Initial Public Offering (IPO) on June 17, 1983. This IPO raised nearly $40 million for the company. This is equivalent to about $130 million today. The stock opened at a split-adjusted price of $0.24. Amgen has also undergone several stock splits since its IPO, impacting the share price history.

When Epogen launched in 1989, it became one of biotech’s first blockbuster biologics and the foundation of Amgen’s financial future.

SEGMENT 3 – LANDMARK PRODUCTS & SCIENCE

Epogen was just the beginning. Over the next three decades, Amgen built a portfolio of biologics that touched millions of lives:

Neupogen (filgrastim) – In the late 1980s, chemotherapy patients faced a constant risk of life-threatening infections because chemo destroyed white blood cells. Neupogen, a recombinant form of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), could turbocharge white blood cell production in days. Doctors quickly realized it was a game-changer, fewer infections, fewer hospital stays, and the ability to push cancer treatment to higher, more effective doses.
Enbrel (etanercept) – In the 1990s, rheumatoid arthritis was often a life sentence of pain and disability. Enbrel, a fusion protein that blocks tumor necrosis factor (TNF), was one of the first biologics to directly target the inflammatory pathway at the root of the disease. Suddenly, patients could see their joints stop swelling and their mobility return. Enbrel became a cornerstone of autoimmune disease treatment, alongside Humira and Remicade.
Prolia (denosumab) – Osteoporosis affects hundreds of millions worldwide, yet treatments were often slow or incomplete. Prolia, a monoclonal antibody against RANK ligand, directly blocks the cells that break down bone. For postmenopausal women and cancer patients with bone metastases, it meant stronger bones and fewer fractures, a huge leap forward in quality of life.
Repatha (evolocumab) – Heart disease remains the world’s leading killer, and while statins transformed cholesterol management, some patients still couldn’t reach safe LDL levels. Repatha, a PCSK9 inhibitor, uses monoclonal antibody technology to dramatically lower LDL cholesterol, offering new hope for those at the highest risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Each of these drugs carried a pattern, a clear biological target, strong genetic or mechanistic validation, and a focus on diseases with huge unmet needs. Amgen didn’t chase the latest biotech hype cycle; it pursued areas where its science could deliver real, measurable impact.

SEGMENT 4 – PEOPLE WHO MADE THEIR MARK

Amgen’s success has been shaped by visionary leaders. But, let’s talk about one person who was instrumental.

When people think of biotech blockbusters, they often picture charismatic CEOs or flashy dealmakers. But sometimes, the true heroes are quiet, meticulous scientists who would rather be in the lab than in the limelight. For Amgen, one of those heroes was Dr. Fu-Kuen Lin.

Fu-Kuen Lin was born in Taiwan in 1949, in a postwar era when the island was still rebuilding its economy and academic institutions. From an early age, he had a deep curiosity about how living things worked, a curiosity that led him to study chemistry at National Taiwan University, the country’s most prestigious academic institution.

After earning his bachelor’s degree, Lin moved to the United States for graduate school, joining the PhD program in biochemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It was the 1970s — molecular biology was exploding as a field, recombinant DNA technology was brand new, and the idea that you could isolate and manipulate human genes was transforming from science fiction to scientific reality.

Lin’s doctoral work sharpened his skills in protein chemistry and molecular cloning, but it was during his postdoctoral training, first at the University of California, San Francisco, and then in industry — that he developed the precision and persistence that would define his career.

In 1981, he joined Amgen, which at that time was still a fledgling biotech with just a handful of scientists. His job? To figure out how to clone the elusive erythropoietin (EPO) gene, a protein made deep inside the kidney in such tiny amounts that traditional purification methods were impossible.

This was no ordinary lab project. It was a scientific moonshot. Multiple companies were racing for the prize, and the first to patent the EPO gene could control the future of anemia treatment for decades. Lin worked with almost monastic discipline. His colleagues remember him as quiet but relentless, someone who could spend 16-hour days in the lab without complaint, thinking through every experimental step with surgical precision.

After months of trial and error, Lin finally isolated and cloned the human EPO gene in 1983, expressing it in mammalian cells and proving the protein’s biological activity. This single achievement didn’t just secure Amgen’s future, it transformed the treatment of anemia around the world.

Despite his monumental contribution, Lin never became a household name. He stayed in research roles, avoiding corporate politics, and eventually left Amgen in the 1990s to pursue other scientific interests. But within biotech circles, he is remembered as one of the quiet giants, proof that a single determined scientist can change the trajectory of a billion-dollar company.

SEGMENT 5 – CHALLENGES & CONTROVERSIES

Amgen has faced its share of storms.

Pricing debates: Epogen and Neupogen’s high costs made Amgen a target during U.S. drug pricing reform debates.
Patent battles: The company fought fiercely to protect its biologics from biosimilar competition.
Regulatory scrutiny: In the early 2010s, Amgen paid $762 million to settle federal charges of improper marketing practices.
Pipeline gaps: At times, Amgen struggled with R&D productivity, leaning heavily on acquisitions to fill its portfolio.
Most recent battle: Amgen and Regeneron have been engaged in a series of legal battles, primarily centered around cholesterol-lowering drugs and eye injection treatments. A recent antitrust lawsuit resulted in a jury awarding Regeneron $400 million after finding Amgen used "bundled rebates" to unfairly promote its drug Repatha over Regeneron's Praluent. In another case, Regeneron is fighting to block Amgen's biosimilar of its blockbuster drug Eylea, Pavblu, alleging patent infringement.

Yet, through each challenge, Amgen managed to adapt, showing a resilience that has kept it in biotech’s top tier.

SEGMENT 6 – LESSONS FROM AMGEN

From its journey, three lessons stand out:

Bet on platform-changing science – Amgen’s early focus on recombinant proteins created a foundation for decades of success.
Scale manufacturing early – Mastering biologics production gave them a competitive moat.
Balance internal R&D with acquisitions – Their mix of homegrown innovation and smart M&A kept the pipeline flowing.

Amgen shows that biotech success is as much about execution and infrastructure as it is about discovery. By the time the episode was recorded, Amgen’s market cap stands at $154B and the stock is at $287.03 a piece. Amgen’s HQ still remains in California but they have expanded to over 100 countries at this point. According to Glassdoor, a PhD salary at Amgen can vary depending on the specific role and experience level, but a Scientist role typically falls within the range of $136,000 to $185,000 per year, including base salary and additional pay.

OUTRO

From a fledgling startup in a sleepy California suburb to a global biotech powerhouse, Amgen’s story is one of persistence, bold science, and strategic discipline. They helped prove that biotechnology could not only compete with Big Pharma — but redefine it.

As we close this episode, I hope you take away a deeper appreciation for how Amgen navigated the volatile waters of biotech’s early years, the importance of combining visionary science with operational excellence, and the role that leadership plays in sustaining innovation over decades.

In a world where today’s biotech stars can quickly fade, Amgen’s ability to keep reinventing itself offers a blueprint for longevity in science-driven industries. Whether you’re in the lab, on the business side, or just a fan of medical breakthroughs, Amgen’s journey shows that transformative healthcare innovation is a marathon, not a sprint.

Thank you for joining me today on Petri Dish Perspectives: Biotech Unleashed.

If you found this episode thought-provoking, please leave a review, share it with your fellow biotech nerds, or reach out with companies you want to hear about next. We have more deep dives coming.

Until next time — stay curious, stay critical, and keep decoding the world around you.

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Manead Khin

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