Amgen CEO reassures investors competitor drug won’t hurt sales

NEW YORK The CEO of Amgen told investors Monday that he isn’t worried about what the upcoming European release of a follow-on version of one of the biotech giant’s drugs will do to sales.

Speaking at the JP Morgan Global Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, Kevin Sharer said he did not expect a biosimilar version of the immune-boosting drug Neupogen (filgrastim) to badly affect sales.

“We believe we can hold very significant market share at attractive revenues for a long time post patent expiry,” he said in an audio recording of the event.

Congress may introduce a bill this year to create an approval pathway for follow-on biologics, also called biosimilars. Several companies, including Merck & Co. and Eli Lilly & Co., have already announced plans to create follow-on biologics divisions.