Amgen Inc.: How a Biotech Veteran Is Rebuilding Its Flagship Pipeline

Amgen Inc. is pivoting from mature blockbusters to a new wave of biologics, biosimilars, and weight-loss drugs that could redefine its growth story in the next decade.

The Biotech Problem Amgen Inc. Is Trying to Solve

Amgen Inc. is not a single drug or gadget; it is one of the world’s most important biotech product platforms. The company’s core "product" is a diversified portfolio of biologic therapies, biosimilars, and an increasingly data-driven R&D engine that together target some of the hardest problems in medicine: cardiovascular disease, obesity, cancer, osteoporosis, and rare immune disorders. In an era when health systems are under pressure to do more with less, Amgen Inc. is betting on highly targeted, high-impact therapies that can keep people out of the hospital and extend healthy life years.

What’s changed recently is the composition and ambition of that portfolio. For years, Amgen Inc. leaned heavily on legacy blockbusters like Enbrel and Neulasta. Today, its flagship narrative is shifting to next-generation biologics such as Repatha for cardiovascular risk reduction, Tezspire in severe asthma, Prolia and Evenity in bone health, and a fast-expanding biosimilars business that offers lower-cost alternatives to some of the world’s most expensive biologic drugs. Layered on top is the looming launch of MariTide, Amgen’s entrant in the ultra-competitive obesity and metabolic disease market.

In other words, Amgen Inc. is evolving from a company known for a handful of aging giants into a modular biotech platform designed for durability: broad therapeutic coverage, multiple revenue pillars, and a deep bench of clinical programs that can be tuned as science and payers shift.

Inside the Flagship: Amgen Inc.

To understand Amgen Inc. as a product, you have to think of it as a tightly integrated ecosystem built around three pillars: innovative biologics, biosimilars, and platform technologies that enable faster, smarter drug development.

1. Innovative biologics as the core engine

Amgen’s biologics portfolio is the centerpiece of its product identity. Key franchises include:

• Repatha (evolocumab) – a PCSK9 inhibitor that lowers LDL cholesterol dramatically and is targeted at high-risk cardiovascular patients. Its clinical profile positions it not just as a cholesterol drug, but as a long-term prevention tool for heart attacks and strokes.
• Tezspire (tezepelumab) – a first-in-class biologic for severe asthma that is not restricted to specific biomarker-defined subgroups. That broader eligibility is a major differentiator in a crowded respiratory market.
• Prolia (denosumab) and Evenity (romosozumab) – complementary osteoporosis therapies that strengthen bone and reduce fracture risk in high-risk patients. These agents are cementing Amgen’s reputation in bone health.
• Hematology and oncology assets – including Blincyto, Kyprolis, and a growing stable of targeted cancer therapies and bispecific antibodies that plug into evolving standards of care in blood cancers and solid tumors.

What ties these biologics together is a consistent focus on severe, high-burden conditions where incremental improvements can translate into meaningful clinical and economic impact. Amgen Inc. is optimized for precisely this segment of the market.

2. Biosimilars as a strategic second engine

Amgen was early in recognizing that biosimilars would become a mainstream category rather than a race to the bottom. Its biosimilar portfolio now includes rivals to some of the biggest biologics in history, including adalimumab (Humira), bevacizumab (Avastin), and trastuzumab (Herceptin).

These biosimilars are not an afterthought. They give Amgen Inc. a few critical advantages:

• Revenue diversification – as older branded assets mature, biosimilars fill the gap with relatively predictable demand curves once access is secured.
• Portfolio leverage – payers and health systems are often more willing to adopt innovative Amgen therapies when they can offset budgets with Amgen’s lower-cost biosimilars.
• Manufacturing scale – the same biologics manufacturing and quality infrastructure serves both innovative drugs and biosimilars, improving utilization and margins.

In practice, this means Amgen Inc. operates as both an innovator and a deflationary force in drug pricing, a dual identity that many pure-play biotech firms lack.

3. The obesity and cardiometabolic bet: MariTide

The most anticipated asset in Amgen’s mid-term story is MariTide, its investigational obesity and metabolic disease treatment. Early data suggest durable weight loss with potentially less frequent dosing than current GLP-1–based competitors. If that profile holds up in late-stage trials, Amgen could differentiate not as a first mover, but as a convenience and durability champion.

For Amgen Inc. as a product ecosystem, MariTide is more than a single drug. It slots into a broader cardiometabolic stack alongside Repatha and other cardiovascular agents, giving physicians a portfolio of tools to treat obesity, lipid disorders, and downstream cardiac risk under one corporate umbrella. The company’s long history in large-scale biologics manufacturing could also be an edge in a field where supply chain bottlenecks have constrained incumbents.

4. Platform technologies and data fluency

Behind the scenes, Amgen is investing in modalities like bispecific antibodies, targeted protein degraders, and genetically validated targets from its deCODE genetics subsidiary. The deCODE acquisition, often overlooked, is a unique asset: a population-scale genomics platform that feeds target discovery and patient stratification. Combined with AI-driven drug design and clinical trial optimization, this positions Amgen Inc. as a biotech platform rather than a collection of siloed franchises.

Market Rivals: Amgen Inc. Aktie vs. The Competition

In big-cap biotech, the most direct rivals to Amgen Inc. are Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Gilead Sciences, with Novo Nordisk challenging it head-on in obesity and cardiometabolic disease.

Regeneron: Eylea and Dupixent as the benchmark

Regeneron’s de facto flagship products are Eylea, a leading treatment for retinal diseases like wet age-related macular degeneration, and Dupixent, a powerhouse biologic for atopic dermatitis, asthma, and several other inflammatory indications.

Compared directly to Dupixent, Amgen’s Tezspire targets a narrower slice of respiratory disease but has a key differentiator: it is not confined to certain biomarker-defined phenotypes. In severe asthma, that broader applicability can simplify clinical decision-making. However, Dupixent’s entrenched position and expanding label give Regeneron a powerful growth engine that Amgen must counter with multiple, well-executed launches rather than a single hero product.

On the R&D side, Regeneron’s homegrown antibody discovery platform and speed in ophthalmology and immunology make it a fierce competitor. Where Amgen has an edge is in breadth: its combined presence in bone health, oncology, cardiometabolic disease, and biosimilars makes its commercial footprint more diversified.

Gilead: Biktarvy and the virology legacy

Gilead’s anchor product is Biktarvy, a best-in-class HIV regimen that throws off massive, relatively stable cash flows. The company is also pushing into oncology with assets like Trodelvy.

Compared directly to Biktarvy, none of Amgen’s individual products offer the same kind of franchise-defining dominance in a single category. Instead, Amgen Inc. looks more like a portfolio investment: Repatha in cardiovascular, Tezspire in respiratory, Prolia/Evenity in bone health, and oncology and inflammatory agents providing multi-pronged growth. Gilead’s challenge is diversifying beyond HIV; Amgen’s challenge is scaling multiple winners to blockbuster status without over-reliance on any one of them.

Novo Nordisk: Ozempic, Wegovy, and the MariTide showdown

The most high-profile rivalry emerging is in obesity and cardiometabolic disease. Novo Nordisk’s flagship products Ozempic (for type 2 diabetes) and Wegovy (for weight management) have reset patient and investor expectations around what obesity treatment can achieve.

Compared directly to Wegovy, Amgen’s investigational MariTide aims to compete on durability and dosing convenience. While full Phase 3 data are still pending, early signals suggest that Amgen might be able to offer less frequent injections with robust weight loss, a huge advantage for long-term adherence if confirmed. Novo Nordisk currently owns the obesity conversation, but Amgen is positioning MariTide as part of an integrated cardiometabolic suite that includes aggressive LDL reduction via Repatha, appealing to cardiologists as much as to obesity specialists.

In manufacturing, Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have struggled to keep up with explosive demand for GLP-1–based products. Amgen’s global biologics manufacturing scale and biosimilar experience give it a real shot at executing on supply reliably if MariTide is approved and reimbursed at scale.

The Competitive Edge: Why it Wins

Amgen Inc. does not win by having the single flashiest product in biotech. It wins by building resilience and optionality into its product portfolio:

• Therapeutic breadth with focus – Amgen is present in cardiometabolic disease, respiratory, bone health, oncology, and inflammation, but within each area it tends to focus on high-severity, high-value segments where biologics make the most difference. That balance of diversification and specialization limits downside when one asset underperforms.
• Biosimilars as a strategic shock absorber – While many peers live or die by a small number of branded assets, Amgen’s biosimilars platform adds a recurring, less volatile revenue stream and strategic leverage with payers. This improves the risk profile of the entire Amgen Inc. product ecosystem.
• Manufacturing and quality as a moat – Large-molecule biologics are hard to make consistently at global scale. Amgen’s decades-long investment in biologics manufacturing gives it a cost and reliability edge that is hard for newer players to replicate, particularly in crowded or capacity-constrained markets like obesity.
• Data and genetics integration – With deCODE’s genomics database and internal AI/ML efforts, Amgen can identify genetically validated targets and refine clinical trial design, increasing the probability that candidates advance to market with strong differentiation.
• Cardiometabolic stack potential – If MariTide matures into a competitive obesity product and is paired with Repatha and other cardiovascular agents, Amgen Inc. could offer one of the most coherent cardiometabolic product stacks in the industry, spanning obesity, lipids, and event prevention.

From an innovation standpoint, Amgen may not always be first, but it has a strong track record of being a credible fast follower that refines a category with better biology, better dosing, or better integration into care pathways. In markets like obesity where demand is projected to be enormous and long-lived, the ability to come second with a well-engineered, manufacturable product could be just as valuable as being first.

Impact on Valuation and Stock

For investors tracking Amgen Inc. Aktie (ISIN: US0311621009), the product story is central to the stock’s risk-reward profile. The market has largely priced Amgen as a mature biotech with stable cash flows from established biologics and biosimilars. The critical question is whether the newer wave of assets can tilt that narrative back toward growth.

Several product-side dynamics matter directly for valuation:

• Durability of core franchises – Prolia, Evenity, Repatha, and Tezspire collectively act as a stabilizing backbone. Strong execution in these categories supports predictable cash generation and underpins dividends and buybacks, a key element of Amgen’s appeal relative to more speculative biotech peers.
• Biosimilar expansion – As additional high-value biologics lose exclusivity, Amgen’s established biosimilar platform can capture share efficiently. The margin profile and cash flow from this business are important inputs into discounted cash flow models for the stock.
• MariTide optionality – The looming cardiometabolic and obesity franchise is the biggest swing factor. Positive clinical data or signals of robust payer uptake could re-rate the equity toward a growth multiple more akin to Novo Nordisk or Eli Lilly, while disappointment would likely keep the stock trading as a mature, income-oriented biotech. In that sense, MariTide is not just a drug candidate; it is a leveraged call option embedded in Amgen Inc. Aktie.
• Pipeline depth beyond obesity – Oncology, inflammation, and rare disease programs provide additional shots on goal. Each incremental approval strengthens the case that Amgen Inc. remains an innovation engine, not merely a steward of aging blockbusters.

Overall, the product architecture of Amgen Inc. supports a hybrid equity profile: part defensive, via established biologics and biosimilars, and part offensive, via obesity and next-generation targeted therapies. For long-term investors, the key is whether management can continue to translate its broad scientific and manufacturing platform into a steady cadence of new, clinically meaningful therapies. If it does, Amgen Inc. will remain one of the defining biotech "products" of the next decade—less a single brand than a durable factory for high-impact medicines.