Amgen announced it raked in $28.2 billion in 2023 – a 7 percent increase over 2022 – during their earnings report today. While they make billions, Americans pay exorbitantly high prices for prescription drugs. Amgen opposed the Biden administration reforms that lower prescription drug prices.
- During the call, Amgen CEO Robert A. Bradway bragged about the company’s strong revenue growth, stating, “2023 was another year of performance and progress for our company.”
- Amgen rewarded its shareholders with $4.6 billion in dividends in 2023 – an increase of nearly 10 percent compared to 2022.
- Amgen CEO Robert A. Bradway made $21.4 million in total compensation in 2022, while the company hiked prices on lifesaving medication.
- Amgen completed its acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics in Q4 2023.
- Amgen is a member of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) trade association, which is suing the Biden administration to stop Medicare from negotiating lower drug prices for patients because it would endanger their massive profits.
- Amgen brought in around $3.7 billion in 2023 from blockbuster rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and psoriatic arthritis drug Enbrel, which is currently under price negotiations with Medicare, and has now made over $84 billion on the drug since its 1998 launch.
- Amgen charges U.S. customers around 4–13x times more for Enbrel than customers in other high-income countries.
- On aggregate, drug companies charge Americans prices up to four times higher than prices in other countries, forcing patients to cut pills and skip doses.
- Over 80 percent of voters support giving Medicare the power to negotiate, making it the most popular provision in the Inflation Reduction Act.
The Inflation Reduction Act brings down prescription drug costs for everyday Americans, especially seniors, by capping the price of insulin at $35 per month and providing free vaccines including shingles, giving Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices, and limiting the amount people have to pay each year for prescription drugs to $2,000 annually starting in 2025.
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