Amgen's Six Engines Keep Grinding, Even as Old Franchises Erode
Q2 growth driven by Repatha, EVENITY, TEZSPIRE, rare disease, oncology, biosimilars; guidance raised as MariTide and cardiovascular pipeline advance.
AMGN · Earnings Call · 2026-08-04
The Engine Room Is Running Hot
Amgen's second-quarter numbers made the case for breadth over depth. Total revenue crossed $10 billion (up 10% YoY) as 22 products grew double digits. The six growth drivers — Repatha, EVENITY, TEZSPIRE, rare disease, innovative oncology, and biosimilars — grew 26% and now account for ~70% of product sales. Bob Bradway summed it up: “Our strong results were driven by the breadth and depth of our portfolio and once again demonstrate our ability to grow through patent expirations and increased competition.” — Robert Bradway, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer · 2026-08-04 The erosion in Prolia/XGEVA (down 33% to $1.1B) was in line with expectations, but the rest of the portfolio more than offset it. Biosimilars contributed $855M (+29%), with PAVBLU growing 121% to $287M. The story is not just about the present quarter; it's about the way the company keeps reinvesting while maintaining financial discipline.Cardiovascular: The Hub of a New Platform
The real excitement is in cardiometabolic disease. Repatha delivered $953M (+37%) and continues to expand into primary care. Murdo Gordon highlighted: “Repatha should be central to an aggressive LDL lowering strategy for the estimated 100 million patients worldwide who are still above their LDL-C goals.” — Murdo Gordon, Executive Vice President, Global Commercial Operations · 2026-08-04 The primary care push is gaining traction — new-to-brand prescriptions grew more than 50% YoY, with half coming from existing cardiologists and half from new primary-care prescribers. That sets up the cardiovascular event reduction data from VESALIUS-CV to become the backbone of a bigger franchise. This isn't a new theme — as Murdo said on the Q3 2025 call, “Roughly 40% of our Repatha new-to-brand prescriptions are from patients who have yet to suffer a first vascular event.” — Murdo Gordon, Executive Vice President, Global Commercial Operations · 2025-08-05 Now it's accelerating. Then there's MariTide. The company is betting on monthly or quarterly dosing to disrupt the weekly GLP 1 market. Jay Bradner explained the mechanism: “MariTide is truly a singularity... the antibody design affords a half-life of approximately 21 days.” — James Bradner, Executive Vice President, Research and Development · 2026-08-04 Nine Phase III studies are ongoing, and the company is explicitly testing switch-and-stay protocols from weekly agents. This is a direct evolution of the switch study Jay outlined back in April: “There will be a run-in on weekly semaglutide or tirzepatide, and then they will switch to Meritide on an every eight-week or quarterly basis.” — James E. Bradner, Executive Vice President, Research and Development · 2026-04-30 The difference now is real clinical momentum.Pipeline: Sjögren's and the Next Wave
Beyond cardiometabolic disease, Amgen's R&D engine is turning. The dazodalibep Phase III program in Sjögren's is expected to read out in H2 2026 — a big bet on a disease with few effective options. And the company is investing heavily in AI, with a frontier AI lab in research. That R&D spend is a strategic choice, even as margins stay around 45–46%. Research and development expense reached $1.7B in the quarter, up 10% YoY, funding MariTide, Olpasiran, Xaluritamig, and the next-generation pipeline.Guidance Raised, CFO Change
Peter Griffith, the retiring CFO, raised 2026 guidance: total revenues to $38.2–39.4B and non-GAAP EPS to $22.30–23.50. He also reiterated a roughly 45–46% non-GAAP operating margin and CapEx of $2.6B. The confidence is tangible:Even with a $100M upfront BD payment in Q3, the full-year outlook was boosted. The transition to Thomas Dittrich as CFO is smooth, and the company's financial engine shows no sign of stalling.We are raising our 2026 guidance ranges for both revenue and non-GAAP earnings per share.