Swiss Firm to Market Amgen’s Biotech Drug

The Swiss pharmaceutical giant, F. Hoffman-LaRoche, will market Amgen’s Granulocyte Colony Stimulating Factor, also called G-CSF, in Europe if the biotech drug is approved for sale there, the two companies announced.

G-CSF produces white blood cells that could strengthen the immune system of cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. The drug is being studied in patients with various types of cancer. Amgen, of Thousand Oaks, said it intends to file for Food and Drug Administration approval of G-CSF in 1989. The firm said it will seek European approval the same year.