Amgen Wins Arbitration and Awarded $150 Million Against Johnson & Johnson
10.18.2002
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THOUSAND OAKS, Calif., October 18, 2002 -- Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) today announced that an arbitrator has found that Johnson & Johnson breached its license agreement with Amgen by promoting its brand of Epoetin alfa, Procrit, into Amgen's reserved dialysis market. As a consequence, the arbitrator awarded Amgen $150 million in damages.
The arbitrator found that Johnson & Johnson's conduct was illegal, egregious, and indefensible. While he ruled that this conduct did not warrant termination of the license, he found that Amgen was entitled to substantial damages for Johnson & Johnson's breaches. Having established Johnson & Johnson's wrongful conduct, Amgen will also apply to the arbitrator for reimbursement of its fees and costs, as the successful party in the arbitration.
"We are gratified that the arbitrator ruled in our favor and vindicated our serious concerns about Johnson & Johnson's wrongful activities," said Kevin Sharer, Amgen's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer."
Under the 1985 license agreement between Amgen and Johnson & Johnson, Amgen licensed to Johnson & Johnson the exclusive right to promote and sell Procrit for non-dialysis use in the United States. Amgen retained the exclusive right to promote and sell its brand of Epoetin alfa, EPOGEN, for dialysis use in the United States. Amgen commenced arbitration proceedings in August 1995, claiming that Johnson & Johnson materially breached the agreement by promoting and selling Procrit for dialysis use.
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 October 18, 2002 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
Jeff Richardson, 805/447-3227
Cary Rosansky, 805/447-4634 (investors)
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