Amgen CEO Robert Bradway has declared 2026 a “springboard year” for the California big biotech, in which the growth of its newer products will offset the loss of revenue from patent expirations and set it up for long-term prosperity.
In the first quarter, Amgen’s product that provided the biggest bounce off the springboard was Repatha, which generated sales of $876 million for a 34% year-over-year increase.
The PCSK9 inhibitor is hitting its stride as a treatment for both secondary and high-risk primary prevention of adverse cardiovascular events.
Repatha also has plenty of room to grow, according to Amgen’s chief commercial officer, Murdo Gordon, who cited new guidelines from the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and American Heart Association (AHA), which now back the earlier use of treatments such as Repatha to reduce low-density lipoprotein (LDL)—or “bad”—cholesterol.
“These guidelines do not yet reflect the practice-changing Vesalius-CV data, leaving a clear opportunity to further evolve clinical guidelines and quality measures,” Gordon said, referring to what he called a “landmark” trial that demonstrated the benefits of Repatha use for those who have not had a stroke or heart attack.
The performance of Repatha helped overcome the free-fall of osteoporosis treatment Prolia, which is now facing biosimilar competition. Its sales were down 34% in the first quarter, to $727 million, coming up more than $100 million shy of consensus expectations.
In its growth portfolio, Amgen has an answer for the same indication, with the severe osteoporosis drug Evenity pulling down sales of $562 million for the quarter, good for a 27% increase.
Other sources of growth for Amgen include its group of rare disease drugs and innovative oncology treatments, each of which was up 25%. Its biosimilars also saw an increase in sales in the first quarter by 14%.
Generating additional sales increases in the quarter were thyroid eye disease treatment Tepezza, which was up 29% to $490 million, and AstraZeneca-partnered asthma drug Tezspire, which grew by 20% to $343 million.
It all added up to an overall increase in revenue of 6% for Amgen to $8.6 billion. With the result, the company tweaked its 2026 revenue projection upward by $100 million and now expects sales to fall between $37.1 billion and $38.5 billion.
As for troubled vasculitis drug Tavneos—which the FDA has proposed to remove from the market—Amgen said it has submitted a Changes Being Effected supplement to the regulator, which would adjust the label of Tavneos, clarifying the potential for liver damage posed by the drug and spelling out treatment discontinuation guidelines.
Sales for Tavneos were still up 32% in the quarter to $119 million, driven by 55% volume growth.