Amgen: Life-Saving Biotechnology & Planet Saving Operations

Climate change poses a direct threat to the manufacturing and delivery of life-saving medicines.

Heat can degrade drugs during transport, extreme weather can damage infrastructure and supply chains can face strains. 

Biotechnology giant Amgen is looking to do its part in sustainability alongside reaching millions of people around the world with medicines. 

Robert Bradway, Amgen’s Chairman and CEO, says in its 2024 Sustainability Report: “At Amgen, our mission is to serve patients. 

“Every day, our talented people around the world show their dedication to our mission by discovering, developing, manufacturing and delivering innovative medicines that can make a big difference against the world’s most serious and prevalent diseases.

“Guided by our values, we seek to achieve responsible and sustainable growth that benefits patients, shareholders, customers, employees and suppliers.”

Amgen has been ranked 58th in Sustainability Magazine’s Top 250 World’s Most Sustainable Companies list for 2025.

About Amgen

Founded in 1980, Amgen is a biotechnology company that develops, manufactures and delivers medicines to treat illnesses. 

Its name is a portmanteau of its original name Applied Molecular Genetics. 

Amgen has manufacturing facilities across the US in California, Rhode Island, North Carolina, Ohio and Puerto Rico alongside international sites in Ireland, the Netherlands and Singapore. 

In 2024, it invested US$6bn in research and development. 

Amgen’s environmental goals

By 2027, Amgen aims to achieve a wide variety of goals that improve its environmental impact. 

Perhaps the biggest is achieving carbon neutrality for its operations and owned and operated facilities across Scopes 1 and 2. 

From a 2019 baseline, Amgen aims to reduce its water consumption by 40% and waste disposed by 75%.

These targets have been approved by the SBTi.

Amgen also aims to engage with 73% of its suppliers by spend in key categories to support their adoption of science-based targets. 

Environmental performance at Amgen

According to Amgen’s 2024 Sustainability Report, the company achieved 69% of its targeted reduction for carbon, 57% of its target reduction for water and 66% of its targeted reduction for waste disposed. 

It purchased renewable energy covering 90% of electricity across its facilities. 

Amgen also opened a new biomanufacturing facility in Ohio, US in 2024, the first fully electric Amgen site. 

This is a nearly 300,000 square foot facility in New Albany, Central Ohio and Amgen announced a US$900m expansion in 2025. 

Next-generation biomanufacturing

Amgen Ecovation is the company’s approach to innovative and sustainable manufacturing which it says it embeds in the upfront design, development and execution of all it does. 

In the design of new buildings or upgrades of existing facilities, Amgen aims to achieve a standard comparable to LEED Gold, use materials and equipment to advance energy efficiency and reduce the use of natural resources. 

The company also aims to enable the potential for rooftop and campus solar panels in its building designs, paired with aerobic food digesters to reduce waste sent to landfills. 

Traditionally, commercial manufacture of biologic medicines requires a significant amount of floor space and large steel bioreactors connected to miles of pipes.

Amgen has created a more streamlined way to manufacture and package medicines that reduces its facility footprint alongside helping to reduce emissions and conserve resources. 

Its manufacturing and packaging sites in Rhode Island, Ohio and Singapore use this streamlined process.