AMGEN CEO RETIRING; GROOMED SUCCESSOR TO TAKE OVER JOB AT COMPANY.Byline: Jason Z. Cohen cohen or kohen (Hebrew: “priest”) Jewish priest descended from Zadok (a descendant of Aaron), priest at the First Temple of Jerusalem. The biblical priesthood was hereditary and male. Staff Writer After more than a decade of leading Amgen Inc. through one of the most spectacular run-ups on Wall Street, Gordon Binder Gordon Binder is currently managing director of Coastview Capital, LLC, and previously was chairman of Amgen[1]. He joined Amgen in 1982, and previously had executive roles at the United Geophysical Corporation and the System Development Corporation. announced late Tuesday that he will retire as the company's chief executive officer and chairman of the board. Binder will hand control of the company to the man he has been grooming as his successor for years, Chief Operating Officer Chief Operating Officer (COO) The officer of a firm responsible for day-to-day management, usually the president or an executive vice-president. Kevin W. Sharer Kevin W. Sharer is Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Amgen Inc. He also serves on the Board of 3M and Northrop-Grumman. • • . Binder will remain CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. through the company's May 11 shareholder meeting and continue on as chairman until the end of 2000. The retirement of Binder, 64, and his naming of Sharer as his successor came as little surprise to Amgen's followers on Wall Street. Analyst Curtis Hogue of Volpe Brown Whelan & Co. said Sharer had begun to perform some of the duties of CEO. ``He had taken over the conference call responsibility for the most part and was making the transition gradually,'' Hogue said. ``It was pretty much expected.'' Binder joined Amgen in 1982, when the company was a small biotechnology interest with 89 employees. Six years later, he succeeded George Rathmann to become the company's second chief executive. By then, the company had grown to 457 employees. A year later, Amgen launched what is now one of its two flagship products, the anemia drug Epogen, which stimulates the production of red blood cells Red blood cells Cells that carry hemoglobin (the molecule that transports oxygen) and help remove wastes from tissues throughout the body. Mentioned in: Bone Marrow Transplantation red blood cells . A decade after its launch, the drug generates more than $1 billion in sales annually. Binder said in a statement he wanted to pass the reins to Sharer well before Amgen launches the new products it is developing. Long criticized for its lack of a substantial pipeline of drugs in development, Amgen's future no longer appears to be tied to continued sales of Epogen and Neupogen. Binder said in his statement that sales of both drugs have provided the capital for Amgen to research and develop the new drugs it is now testing. The company's stock has taken hits as a result of its heavy reliance on long-term development, as evidenced in October when Amgen announced it will continue to invest heavily in research and development at the expense of earnings per share. The day the statement was made, the company's stock dropped nearly 7 percent. Still, shares of Amgen have increased dramatically in the decade-plus that Binder has led the company. An investor who bought $10,000 worth of Amgen shares in early 1990 would have stock worth approximately $450,000 today. The company is working on second-generation versions of both of its top-selling drugs, including a longer dose version of Epogen, known as NESP NESP Neuroendocrine Secretory Protein NESP Navy EHF SATCOM Program NESP Nurse Educator Scholarship Program NESP Navy EHF Satellite Program NESP National Environmental Studies Project NESP National Education Supercomputer Program , which it will be allowed to market more widely than the original product. Also in development is a rheumatoid arthritis rheumatoid arthritis Chronic, progressive autoimmune disease causing connective-tissue inflammation, mostly in synovial joints. It can occur at any age, is more common in women, and has an unpredictable course. treatment known as Kineret, and researchers working for the company recently announced the discovery of a compound that might be the cause of Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (ăls`hī'mərz, ôls–), degenerative disease of nerve cells in the cerebral cortex that leads to atrophy of the brain and senile dementia. . During Binder's tenure, Amgen has been fiercely protective of its franchises, challenging rival Johnson & Johnson in court to win the right to market NESP as a separate drug to Epogen or the Johnson & Johnson drug Procrit. Sharer, 51, who has been president and chief operating officer since joining Amgen in 1992, came to the company from MCI Communications This article is about MCI before it merged with WorldCom. For other uses, see MCI. MCI Communications was an American telecommunications company that was instrumental in legal and regulatory changes that led to the breakup of the AT&T monopoly of American telephony and . He will take over the duties of CEO at the May 11 shareholder meeting, then assume the top position on Amgen's board when Binder steps down from that position. Amgen shares closed at $44.8125 on Tuesday, down 18.75 cents. Binder's retirement was announced after the markets closed. CAPTION(S): 2 photos, chart PHOTO (1) Gordon Binder (2) Kevin W. Sharer CHART: Binder's years |
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