Amgen to build $600m science and innovation centre in the US

Credit: JHVEPhoto / Shutterstock.com

Amgen is set to spend more than $600 million on a science and innovation centre that will be located within its Thousand Oaks headquarters in California.

The new facility will house a cross-disciplinary mix of researchers, engineers and scientists in a building that will incorporate advanced automation and digital capabilities

Robert Bradway, Amgen’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said: “At Amgen, we’re continuing to invest in the future of American science and innovation. This new centre will empower our scientists with the tools and collaborative environment they need to shape the next era of scientific discovery and advance medicines that improve human health.”

Construction on the new science and innovation centre is set to begin later this month and, in addition to boosting Amgen’s R&D infrastructure, the investment is expected to create hundreds of US jobs.

The latter is an important point given the US Government’s push for greater domestic investment by the pharmaceutical industry. Those measures have so far ranged from encouraging active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ramping up support for new manufacturing sites.

Consequently, Amgen’s announcement about its new centre makes a point of highlighting that it has invested over $5 billion in direct capital expenditures in the US since the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017 under Donald Trump’s first presidency.

The TCJA’s extension earlier this year by President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act “further facilitates Amgen’s ability to invest domestically in cutting-edge science and manufacturing”, the company said.

Amgen’s recent spending has included the $900 million expansion of its Central Ohio biomanufacturing facility last year. The 300,000 square foot site went from groundbreaking to licensure in just under 26 months, making it the most rapid site development in Amgen’s history. The company has also earmarked $1 billion for building a second manufacturing plant in Holly Springs, North Carolina.