Amgen announces appointment to guarantee compliance performance

Amgen has announced the appointment of Anna S Richo as senior vice-president of worldwide compliance as part of plans to guarantee its continued strong performance in this field.

Ms Richo will lead the group responsible for the company’s business ethics and corporate compliance programme, reporting to chairman and chief executive Kevin Sharer.

Having joined the company in 2003, Ms Richo was most recently employed as vice-president of law with responsibility for the worldwide management of all corporate litigation and law department operations at Amgen.

She was previously employed in a number of roles at Baxter Healthcare, including vice-president of law for its bioscience division.

Ms Richo served on the board of directors of Cytyc for over five years and was also a member of its audit and finance committees.

Mr Sharer said: “As the compliance demands on biopharmaceutical companies are increasing, we want to ensure Amgen’s continued excellent performance in this area in the interests of patients and all our stakeholders.”

In August 2007, Amgen announced plans to restructure the firm in the light of reduced revenues from sales of Aranesp (darbepoetin alfa), with a reduction of around 12 to 14 per cent of its workforce, equal to 2,200 to 2,600 employees.