Biotech
Giant Amgen
Continues Growth in L.A.’s Backyard
As demand for new medicines to fight some of the world’s toughest diseases is on the rise, companies like Amgen continue to innovate and grow to meet this challenge –harnessing the best of biology and technology in the development of biologic medicines for seriously ill patients. Amgen’s growth is evidenced through expansions recently announced in multiple U.S. locations, such as Ohio, North Carolina and
Puerto Rico.
This growth is also happening closer to home at Amgen’s global headquarters in Thousand Oaks, California, a nearby suburb of Los Angeles.
Over the past 45 years, Amgen has grown to be an anchor in the local biotechnology community, strengthening ties among local research institutions, venture capital groups, and smaller biotechs. The company’s main philanthropic arm, the Amgen Foundation, consistently gives back to the local community. Its campus, which employs thousands of people, includes cutting-edge research labs, state-of-the-art manufacturing technologies, and next-generation office space – with recently announced plans to expand.
Amgen got its start in 1980 out of a small, single-story building – now fittingly named Building 1 – in a strip mall in Thousand Oaks in the northern foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains. Why Thousand Oaks? In addition to clean air, good quality of life and room to grow, Amgen's founders were drawn to the region by its proximity to academic research institutions like UCLA, USC, Caltech and UCSB.
Since then, the campus has grown considerably, with dozens of buildings, including scientific research labs, manufacturing facilities, office buildings, multiple cafeterias and outdoor collaboration spaces. This growth is the result of Amgen’s ongoing success as a biotechnology innovator, laser-focused on its mission to serve patients, especially those suffering from serious illnesses.
Major scientific breakthroughs have and continue to take place in these labs, and lifesaving medicines are manufactured here every day. Also, many of the processes piloted at Amgen’s headquarters inform activities across all Amgen facilities.
Amgen’s Headquarters in Thousand Oaks
The medicines manufactured at Amgen’s headquarters help treat some of the world’s toughest diseases.
A Deep Culture of Innovation
"Amgen went from a small biotech startup to one of the world's largest independent biotechs, reaching millions of patients," said Emily Razaqi, senior vice president of Obesity & Related Conditions and chair of the Amgen Foundation. “We’re continuing to drive that innovation right here at our headquarters – across R&D, manufacturing and all areas of our business.”
Among large public companies headquartered in the Greater Los Angeles region today, Amgen is number three by revenue and number two in terms of employees, with more than 4,000 staff living and working here. And it's still growing: Amgen recently announced plans to build a new $600 million Center for Science and Innovation at its Thousand Oaks campus.
Amgen went from a small biotech startup to one of the world's largest independent biotechs, reaching millions of patients
Emily Razaqi
Senior Vice President of Obesity & Related Conditions
Chair of the Amgen Foundation
At Amgen, there is deep recognition that the best innovation comes through collaboration, both through relationships with leading academic institutions and by fostering and working with other biotech firms throughout the region.
“Breakthroughs don’t happen in isolation,” said Rachna Khosla, senior vice president of Business Development at Amgen. “Amgen benefits from all the talented people and creative ideas in its vicinity, and the biotech ecosystem benefits when smart people – including many who worked at Amgen – go on to create new companies here.”
Amgen’s Golden Ticket program is just one example. Launched in 2021, the incubator selects a handful of L.A.-area biotech start-ups each year and provides them with bench space and equipment, along with scientific and business mentoring.
In 2025, Amgen also hosted an inaugural event called Amgen Connect on its Thousand Oaks campus, bringing together industry leaders from Southern California's vibrant biotech and tech communities for a practical look at artificial intelligence in drug discovery and development.
Khosla adds that "it is the meaningful connections forged among leaders at gatherings like these that spark the innovation needed to bring transformative medicines to patients."
Southern California’s Growing Biotech Hub
...the biotech ecosystem benefits when smart people – including many who worked at Amgen – go on to create new companies here.
Rachna Khosla
Senior Vice President of Business Development at Amgen
With Amgen's growth has come a deepening commitment to corporate citizenship and philanthropy. The Amgen Foundation’s primary focus is on science education, with its signature Amgen Biotech Experience (ABE) program providing high school teachers with the tools to run hands-on biotech labs in their classrooms. “ABE isn’t about finding one future PhD – it’s about giving every student who walks into a biology class an authentic opportunity to engage in science,” said Scott Heimlich, president of the Amgen Foundation.
To date, the Foundation has committed over $8 million to the program across the Greater L.A. region, reaching more than 400,000 students and hundreds of teachers across more than 300 Southern California schools, with more than 18,000 students participating in a typical year.
At the higher-education level, the Amgen Scholars Program provides summer undergraduate research placements at top universities around the world, and it has drawn students for laboratory immersion at UCLA and Caltech since 2007.
Community Engagement Beyond the Lab
Most recently, Amgen and the Amgen Foundation have donated $2 million to support the opening of kidSTREAM, a children's museum with a focus on science and technology set to open in the nearby town of Camarillo. And in the wake of the devastating wildfires in early 2025, Amgen and the Amgen Foundation made one of the region’s largest disaster-relief commitments – $10 million in total – to support Southern Californians affected by wildfires.
But community engagement means more than writing checks. Thousands of local nonprofits have benefitted from employee donations and volunteer hours, with visible efforts such as the International Coastal Cleanup, recently in its 20th year at Amgen, having grown from a grassroots idea into an employee activity in multiple coastal communities near where Amgen sites are located.
“Volunteerism is important to us," Heimlich said. “Financial support matters, but so does the way many of our employees meaningfully engage in and serve our communities.”
Financial support matters, but so does the way many of our employees meaningfully engage in and serve our communities.
Scott Heimlich
President, Amgen Foundation Executive Director of Corporate Philanthropy, Amgen
The Amgen Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Amgen, is committed to enhancing science education in the broader community. One of its signature programs, the Amgen Biotech Experience, brings biotechnology curriculums into high school classrooms throughout the Greater Los Angeles area.
Amgen’s headquarters employs thousands of people, including scores of award-winning scientists who have helped changed the practice of medicine through innovations that improve the lives of people living with serious illnesses.
International Coastal Cleanup, which Amgen has supported for 20 years, is just one example of how Amgen employees actively give back to local communities. This year, employees gathered at Hueneme Beach Park near the company’s headquarters.
Amgen’s recently announced investment to expand its Thousand Oaks campus is good news for patients needing innovative medicines, and for those in the Greater Los Angeles area as it comes with plans to create hundreds of U.S. jobs. It’s a future state that will benefit patients – and the broader community.
As an integral part of the Greater Los Angeles community for more than four decades, Amgen has come to be known in a variety of ways. Employer. Corporate citizen. Biotech partner. Innovator. But for an employee of Amgen, nothing is more motivating than being known for transforming the lives of patients. It’s Amgen’s mission to serve seriously ill patients that matters most.
“Our people fuel innovation, and innovation serves patients,” Razaqi said. “Amgen’s legacy should be measured by the millions of patients we serve – and the next generation of innovators we inspire.”
Building on a Legacy
Amgen was one of the original pioneers of modern biotechnology. The company was among the first to leverage emerging recombinant DNA technology to bring biologic medicines – made from living cells – to market. Its first approved biologic, for patients with chronic kidney disease, helped change the practice of medicine. This success helped put Greater Los Angeles and Ventura County on the map as a hub of innovation for discovery and development of biologic medicines.
Over the years, Amgen has continued to innovate, most recently integrating artificial intelligence and machine learning into its drug discovery process along with many other capabilities across the company. To date, the company has discovered, developed and manufactured dozens of medicines. These medicines reach millions of patients each year who are living with serious illnesses like cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, inflammatory diseases and a number of rare diseases.
Thousands of people work at Amgen’s Global Headquarters in Thousand Oaks. The campus provides opportunities for professional careers across multiple disciplines such as R&D, Operations, Commercial, Finance and more.
Amgen recently announced plans to build a new $600-million Center for Science and Innovation at its Thousand Oaks campus, which will bring together researchers, engineers and scientists across disciplines to enhance collaboration and accelerate the discovery of next-generation therapeutics for patients with the most serious diseases.