In the early summer of 1981, a very simple job advertisement was published in a certain issue of Science, and a technology startup wanted to recruit a new drug researcher. Maybe the recruiter wants to save money. This advertisement has neither a company name nor a job description, and it has not attracted much attention. However, one of the unfortunate things is that the advertising costs are not white, or a 40-year-old scientist gave the company a resume. Moreover, or because he was a little hungry, after he got the letter of appointment, he took all his belongings into several suitcases and moved from the east coast of the United States with his wife to the company’s Thousand Oaks, California. . That was in the early 1980s, the company was still tiny like dust and sand, and if it was a little bit stormy, it could disappear. At the time, the scientist was also unable to do anything about his career. He had no choice but to pick and choose the "good", as long as he had a professional counterpart to support his family.
Only time can tell us the true value and meaning of a thing. Today, 38 years later, no one can deny that it was the company’s helplessness and the desperation of this scientist that brought them together and finally made Amgen, the world’s largest biopharmaceutical company. . In 2018, Amgen's stock market value was 128.8 billion US dollars, ranking eighth in the global pharmaceutical giant; Amgen's annual sales of 23.7 billion US dollars, ranked 12th in the global pharmaceutical giant. This is the "big value" that broke out at the end of the year.
This scientist was born in Keelung, Taiwan, China, and his name is Lin Fukun. When he left the country to study in the United States, he was also full of ambitions, and he was willing to make academic achievements in the mentality of the man. At the age of 30, he received his Ph.D. in botany from the University of Illinois. However, for the next 10 years, he seems to be in the bottom of his life, and any door opened for him is finally ruthlessly closed. In order to make a living, he continued to travel to and from the Pacific Ocean for five jobs, and the last one was at the University of South Carolina Medical University. The tide of the profession has made him deviate from his original profession and entered the genetic engineering research. 40-year-old is not a year of confusion, but Lin Fukun does not know what the fate is, only knows that survival is greater than the sky. This other scientist may have a disdainful job opportunity, which makes him tempted, at least it can solve a family's livelihood. Unexpectedly, such a cold starting point, Lin Fukun has achieved great achievements in the history of human medicine.
What kind of company was Amgen at that time? It has already burned most of the development funds raised from VCs in the East and the West, but has yet to find a promising right path.
At the time of the convergence of the 70s and the 1980s, human beings have accumulated a lot of research results in biotechnology, and the trend of industrialization has become increasingly obvious. Many biotech companies have sprung up, and one of them is AppliedMolecular Genetics in Thousand Oaks, Southern California (later renamed Amgen Amgen). William Bowes, one of its four founders, was a VC venture capitalist and was a director at Cetus, the nation's first biotechnology company. In October 1980, Anjin officially started operations with a primary investment of $80,000; in 1981, Bao Wei refinanced $19.4 million for Amgen. Later, influenced by Genentech's listing, biotech companies became the darling of the stock market. In 1983, Amgen also successfully listed IPOs and raised another $40 million.
In the first few years, they used the money to try to extract oil from the shale, and tried to make the chickens on the farm grow faster. They also started to make various special chemicals, such as cloning the luciferin gene. It is a pity that the silver of the white flowers is thrown into the sea. After tens of millions of dollars spent, they still have nothing to do. Fortunately fortunately, Amgen’s No. 7 scientific researcher officially reported in 1981, and he was the one who turned the tide and helped the building to pour Lin Fukun.
In August, the Thousand Oaks City was originally the highest temperature month, but Lin Fukun entered the laboratory and the summer heat disappeared, and his heart became cold and cool. His original expectations are already very low, and the simplicity of his progress is still much lower than his expectations: a bio-technical company with R&D as the core, there is only one workbench in the entire laboratory, and everyone has to wait in line to use it. Come on. For scientists with other options, they may turn and leave; but after disappointment, Lin Fukun stayed. Perhaps it is his persevering nature; perhaps it is too long in the career, so that he cherishes this opportunity.
On the list of research topics provided, Lin Yikun selected the erythropoietin gene EPO as his research direction. EPO is a hormone protein secreted by the renal pelvis that stimulates the bone marrow to produce red blood cells. In people with renal failure, the secretion of EPO is also reduced, leading to severe anemia. In terms of obtaining EPO, Lin Fukun is not the initiator. In the 1970s, Professor Goldwasser of the University of Chicago had isolated and purified EPO from the urine of patients with aplastic anemia, but the amount was very small. After collecting 2,500 liters of urine, a few milligrams of EPO could be extracted, so this method No practical value. At that time, little was known about recombinant DNA, and the technical methods required for gene sequencing and cloning were also primitive. The human EPO gene has a large amino acid sequence, and at that time it wants to find and isolate the EPO gene, just like finding a needle in a haystack. Lin Fukun’s ability to break through is even more difficult, because at that time, Amjin’s scientific research conditions were really stretched: he needed money and lacked money.
However, luck has finally arrived. Lin Fukun, who had almost never achieved anything in his life, is destined to be lit up by EPO. At the end of 1983, he and his only assistant university student Lin Qihui successfully separated EPO sequences from 1.5 million gene fragments. This erythropoietin EPO can theoretically treat anemia caused by various causes and has great medicinal potential.
The technology ushered in a breakthrough, but when Amgen had already smashed the grain, it was impossible to conduct clinical trials. Perhaps it is the death of An Jin. In 1984, EPO smashed the Japanese Kirin company, which was repeatedly frustrated in the United States. Kirin agreed to establish a joint venture subsidiary, Kirin-Amgen, with Anjin in a 1:1 shareholding. Kirin injected $44.5 million into Anjin, thereby gaining exclusive rights to EPO in Japan.
In 1985, Amgen's EPO entered clinical trials for the first time, but the money was quickly burned out. To add insult to injury, because of the lack of decent performance for many years, Amgen’s stock continued to fall after 1984, and public fundraising has become hopeless. In order to survive, Amgen, who had nowhere to go, found Johnson & Johnson and sold EPO's market sales rights in the United States and Europe to indications other than kidney disease.
EPO's clinical trials continued after the birth of Johnson & Johnson. At the same time, Amgen has started human trials with five products, including hepatitis B vaccine, three cytokines and two interferons. Finally, the enormous potential of EPO was quickly revealed in Phase III clinical trials. In 1987, Amgen submitted a listing application to the FDA under the name of Epogen; in 1989, it was approved and became the first product listed by Amgen. In 1990, its sales soared to $140 million, which was called red medicine and was named the best medicine of the year by Fortune magazine. In addition, another research team led by Dr. Larry Souza successfully cloned granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) in 1985, mainly for the treatment of cancer after radiotherapy or chemotherapy. Leukopenia. In 1991, the drug Neupogen was also approved by the FDA. In the first year, it created more than 200 million US dollars of sales. People called it white medicine, which was also named the best product of the year by Fortune magazine.
In 1994, the FDA approved Neupogen for bone marrow transplantation, and the indications were broadened. Since then, Amgen has been flying in the red and white drugs. In 1999, Amgen’s total revenue reached 3.4 billion US dollars; in 2000, Amgen successfully ranked among the top 30 global pharmaceutical companies. Looking back at the way, Anjin had a high foot and walked alone in the mud, almost swallowed again and again, and finally landed so amazingly. It is hard to imagine that if Lin Fukun, who was not drifting away at the time, entered Anjin with a job advertisement, and because of his firm perseverance, he survived the initial development dilemma of EPO, and there is another kind of scenery on the road of Anjin. ? It is really difficult for us to answer here. There are many things in history, and there may be a lot of difference.
In 2001, Amgen's modified EPO (Aranesp) received FDA approval, an EPO with two hydrocarbon-containing sialic acids, which was a two-fold longer than the normal EPO. Because it is a brand new molecule, Aranesp is not subject to the agreement signed with Johnson & Johnson in the past, and it can compete with Johnson & Johnson's products, and the life cycle of EPO can be effectively extended. The improved version of G-CSF (Neulasta) was also approved by the FDA in 2002. This is a PEG-modified drug with an injection interval of more than 14 days. After the approval of Neulasta, sales also rose at a high rate.
