Innovators Pictured with CEO Kevin Sharer are just a few of the people at Amgen who are driving innovation throughout the organization to better meet the needs of patients.

From left to right: Fabrizio Bonanni, senior vice president, Manufacturing; David Parkinson, vice president, Global Clinical Development; Leslie Mirani, senior director of U.S. Nephrology Sales; Kevin Sharer, chairman and chief executive officer; Diana McKenzie, senior director, Information Systems; Joseph Miletich, senior vice president, Research and Preclinical; Laura Hamill, vice president and general manager, Inflammation; and Joseph Phillips, senior director, Analytical Sciences.

6. Close collaborative partnership across all the functions in the company. This could be the biggest challenge. Interaction among science, medicine, regulatory, manufacturing, marketing, intellectual property, finance and more must be seamless. Functional goals, personal differences and inconsistent priorities all must be overcome. Innovation cannot be systemized, but takes human, personal collaboration.

7. Nimbleness. We live in a competitive world and face hundreds of capable potential competitors. We must be nimble to win. Nimbleness means recognizing an opportunity before others, moving fast and effectively to pursue it, and being willing to take a chance. Competing intensely and winning is one of our core values. Remaining hungry and feeling small help fuel and sustain this defining spark.

8. Access to and skill in employing a broad range of technologies while being alert to how best to use new approaches. Over a decade ago, as the sequencing of the human genome was proceeding, Gordon Binder, Amgen's second CEO, and I decided to fund the development of a small-molecule capability to complement our large-molecule expertise. This work is now largely done and we are one of the few companies, if not the only one, with access to and deep skill in employing multiple therapeutic modalities. Fitting the modality—large molecule, antibody, small molecule—to the target is a core advantage for Amgen.

9. A focus on patients, physicians, providers and payers and sensitivity to their needs. Bringing a product to market is difficult. Making sure the broadest and most appropriate patient population has ready access to breakthrough medicines is increasingly challenging. Physicians need to see, understand and have well-founded confidence in the data. Payers and governments must be shown the medicine is effective, safe and a good value. These challenges will only grow in the future as health budgets are squeezed and society becomes even more demanding of us.

10. A decision-making process that is rigorous, decisive, participative, transparent, timely and effective. The amount of data, range of decisions, complexity and number of players in drug development is staggering. We make fact-based decisions, but judgment and good instincts are in the mix too. How can we be thorough and thoughtful while avoiding bureaucracy and gridlock? Making the hard decisions to stop after a decade of effort are sometimes the hardest calls. No one has the definitive answer to the appropriate innovation process, and we struggle too. The fact that we struggle and try to get better is a healthy sign.

The process of innovation is the central focus of the entire company, and we all work together in this challenging and vital effort, as we have since we began. We are 25 years old this year. We have much to celebrate and be thankful for, starting with the millions of patients we have helped. This annual report is dedicated to a giant of our company and our industry, Dr. George B. Rathmann. George was our founding CEO, and he built the framework for Amgen—a commitment to scientific discovery and a passion for serving patients suffering from serious illness. I am happy to report to George and our stockholders that we are still the company he founded.

Kevin W. Sharer
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
March 14, 2005