Amgen CEO to Retire; Successor Named

Amgen Inc.’s top executive, Gordon Binder, who led the Thousand Oaks-based company as it grew into the world’s largest biotechnology concern, said that he plans to retire as chief executive on May 11, after Amgen’s annual stockholders meeting, and that he will step down as chairman of the board and a director by Dec. 31, 2000. Kevin Sharer, now chief operating officer and president, will take over as CEO and chairman. Binder, who will turn 65 in October, joined Amgen as chief financial officer in 1982. During his tenure, the company developed and launched Epogen and Neupogen, which have become the largest selling biotechnology drugs in the world, with combined 1998 sales of $2.5 billion. Sharer, 51, would be the third CEO in Amgen’s 20-year history. He, like Binder, comes from background more focused on business than scientific research. Before joining Amgen in 1992, Sharer was president of MCI Communications’ business markets division. Before that, he was a General Electric Co. executive. “It’s a normal transition, and Sharer has been around for a long time, so it shouldn’t pose any problems for the company; he has been there long enough to know how to do it,” said Jim McCamant, editor of the Medical Technology Stock Letter. Amgen stock fell 19 cents to close at $44.81 on Nasdaq. Binder’s retirement was announced after the close of U.S. markets.