J&J Ordered To Pay Amgen's Costs and Attorneys' Fees In Recent Arbitration
For Immediate Release
THOUSAND OAKS, CA – January 24, 2003 – Amgen (Nasdaq:AMGN) today
announced that an arbitrator determined that Amgen was the prevailing party in
the recent arbitration with Johnson & Johnson and ordered Johnson & Johnson
to pay Amgen's costs and reasonable attorneys' fees incurred by Amgen in the
arbitration. Amgen currently estimates those costs and fees, incurred over four
years, to be significant. The arbitrator will determine the final amount Amgen will
recover.
On October 18, 2002, the arbitrator found that Johnson & Johnson breached its
license agreement with Amgen by promoting its brand of Epoetin alfa, Procrit®,
into Amgen's reserved dialysis market. The arbitrator found that Johnson &
Johnson's conduct was illegal, egregious, and indefensible. As a result, the
arbitrator ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay Amgen $150 million in damages.
In today's ruling, the arbitrator made clear Amgen was the prevailing party and
stated: “Ortho has been found guilty of intentional breach of the [product license
agreement] and has been assessed damages…It lost a significant damage claim
to a prevailing Amgen.”
This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve significant
risks and uncertainties, including those discussed below and more fully described
in the Securities and Exchange Commission reports filed by Amgen, including
our most recent Form 10-Q. Amgen conducts research in the
biotechnology/pharmaceutical field where movement from concept to product is
uncertain; consequently, there can be no guarantee that any particular product
candidate will be successful and become a commercial product.
Furthermore, our research, testing, pricing, marketing and other operations are
subject to extensive regulation by domestic and foreign government regulatory
authorities. In addition, sales of our products are affected by reimbursement
policies imposed by third party payors, including governments, private insurance
plans and managed care providers. These government regulations and
reimbursement policies may affect the development, usage and pricing of our
products.
In addition, while we routinely obtain patents for our products and technology, the
protection offered by our patents and patent applications may be challenged,
invalidated or circumvented by our competitors.
Because forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, actual
results may differ materially from current results expected by Amgen. Amgen is
providing this information as of January 23, 2003 and expressly disclaims any
duty to update information contained in this press release.
Amgen is a global biotechnology company that discovers, develops,
manufactures and markets important human therapeutics based on advances in
cellular and molecular biology.
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CONTACT: Amgen, Thousand Oaks
Barbara Bronson Gray 805/447-4949 (media)
Cary Rosansky, 805/447-4634 (investors)