Skip to main content

Business Model Analysis

How Amgen Makes Money

Annual Revenue: $36.8B

Executive Summary

Amgen generates revenue primarily through Biotechnology / Biopharmaceuticals, with roughly $36.8B in annual revenue.

Core Growth Engine: Amgen's growth plan has two parts: scale the newer medicines and buy what the pipeline does not supply. Recent launches and acquired products drove the 10% revenue growth in fiscal 2025, with Tezspire up 52% to US$1.48 b...

Revenue Model & Pricing

Amgen operates a high-risk, high-reward biopharmaceutical business model. It spends heavily on research to discover and engineer new biologic drugs: US$7.3 billion in fiscal 2025, or 20.7% of product sales. Once a drug is approved by the FDA, Amgen secures a patent, granting them a temporary monopoly to sell the drug at a premium price. Because biologic drugs are grown from living cells rather than chemically synthesized, they are much harder for competitors to copy, resulting in slightly longer and more defensible monopolies than traditional pills.

Core Revenue Streams

U.S. product sales

~70% of total revenues

United States product sales were US$25.66 billion in fiscal 2025, 73% of the US$35.15 billion product sales total and about 70% of total revenues. The largest domestic contributors were Prolia (US$2.98 billion), Enbrel (US$2.20 billion), Otezla (US$1.84 billion), Tepezza (US$1.76 billion), Repatha (US$1.66 billion), Evenity (US$1.60 billion) and Tezspire (US$1.48 billion). Access depends on formulary placement with the large pharmacy benefit managers and on Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement.

International product sales

~26% of total revenues

Product sales outside the United States were US$9.49 billion in fiscal 2025, 27% of product sales. The largest were Repatha (US$1.35 billion), Aranesp (US$973 million), XGEVA (US$729 million), Vectibix (US$571 million) and Amgevita (US$549 million). Prices are generally lower than in the United States because of government reference pricing and national formulary negotiation.

Biosimilars

~8% of total revenues

Biosimilars sit inside product sales and generated about US$3.0 billion in fiscal 2025: Mvasi (bevacizumab) US$771 million, Pavblu (aflibercept) US$700 million, Amjevita and Amgevita (adalimumab) US$597 million, Wezlana and Wezenla (ustekinumab) US$273 million, and US$683 million across the smaller biosimilars reported within other products. Amjevita sales fell 22% year over year, so segment growth now comes from the newer launches.

Rare disease portfolio acquired with Horizon

~13% of total revenues

Also inside product sales, the medicines acquired with Horizon Therapeutics produced about US$4.6 billion in fiscal 2025: Tepezza US$1.90 billion, Krystexxa US$1.34 billion, Uplizna US$655 million and the ultra-rare products US$719 million. Uplizna grew 73% after approvals in IgG4-related disease and generalized myasthenia gravis, while the ultra-rare group fell 5% as Ravicti met generic competition.

Other revenues

~4% of total revenues

Other revenues, mainly royalties, license income and corporate partner payments, were US$1.60 billion in fiscal 2025, the difference between US$36.75 billion of total revenues and US$35.15 billion of product sales. The line carries high margins but is not a growth priority.

Growth Strategy

Amgen's growth plan has two parts: scale the newer medicines and buy what the pipeline does not supply. Recent launches and acquired products drove the 10% revenue growth in fiscal 2025, with Tezspire up 52% to US$1.48 billion, Repatha up 36% to US$3.02 billion, Evenity up 34% to US$2.10 billion, Uplizna up 73% to US$655 million and Imdelltra reaching US$627 million in its second year. The company is pushing into obesity with MariTide, now in six Phase 3 MARITIME studies, and runs a biosimilars business that produced about US$3.0 billion of fiscal 2025 sales across Pavblu, Mvasi, Amjevita and Wezlana.

How Amgen Makes Money: FAQ

How does Amgen generate commercial revenue?

Amgen generates revenue primarily through the worldwide manufacture, marketing, and direct sales of branded biologic therapeutics, small molecule therapies, rare disease drugs, and biosimilar medicines to healthcare providers, wholesalers, and pharmacies.

What are Amgen's primary therapeutic focus areas?

Amgen concentrates its commercial and R&D operations across four core disease pillars: Inflammation (Enbrel, Otezla, Tavneos), Oncology (Lumakras, Kyprolis, Vectibix, Blincyto), Rare Disease (Tepezza, Krystexxa), and General Medicine (Prolia, Repatha, Evenity).

How does Amgen utilize recombinant DNA and advanced biomanufacturing?

Amgen develops large-molecule biologic drugs produced in living cell cultures (CHO cells), leveraging proprietary Next-Generation Biomanufacturing facilities in Rhode Island, Singapore, and Ohio that reduce water and energy use while cutting build costs.

What is Amgen's commercial distribution model for specialty pharmaceuticals?

Amgen distributes products through specialty distributors, full-line pharmaceutical wholesalers (McKesson, AmerisourceBergen/Cencora, Cardinal Health), specialty pharmacies, and direct hospital supply networks.

How does Amgen monetize its biosimilars franchise?

Amgen uses its decades of biologic manufacturing expertise to engineer interchangeable biosimilars at lower development costs, selling them at competitive discount pricing against originator biologic drugs globally.

What is Amgen's BiTE (Bispecific T-cell Engager) technology platform?

Amgen's proprietary BiTE platform engineers antibody constructs (like Blincyto and Imdelltra) that simultaneously bind to T-cells and cancer cells, directing the patient's own immune system to destroy malignant tumors.

How do pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) rebates influence Amgen's net pricing?

Amgen negotiates formulary placement with PBMs and commercial health insurers by providing contractual rebates and discounts, balancing gross list prices against net realizable revenue per prescription.

How does Amgen's deCODE Genetics unit support drug target discovery?

Acquired in 2012, Reykjavik-based deCODE Genetics analyzes whole-genome sequencing data from hundreds of thousands of individuals, identifying novel human genetic disease targets with higher clinical trial probability of success.

How does Amgen make money?

Amgen generates revenue by heavily investing in R&D to discover, patent, and manufacture highly complex, high-margin biologic drugs for severe illnesses.

Related Monetization Mechanics

Compare revenue streams, unit economics, and business models

Content is for informational purposes only. Not financial advice. Data sourced from SEC filings, annual reports, and public records. See our full disclaimer and methodology.