Thousand Oaks-based Amgen announced the appointment of Yuji Orihara to the position of president and representative director, Amgen KK. Amgen KK was formed in 1992 in Japan as a wholly owned subsidiary of Amgen Inc. Orihara will be responsible for all aspects of Amgen’s commercial efforts in Japan and will be based at the Amgen KK headquarters in Tokyo.

Amgen is building Amgen KK to become a full commercial operation and a robust and growing clinical research operation. Over the next several years, Amgen’s commercial operations in Japan are expected to expand significantly as the company prepares for the potential launch of its late-stage pipeline products. Japan is a priority market for Amgen and the company expects to increase its staff of approximately 120 in Japan to more than 300 by 2009.

“Yuji’s significant experience in Japan’s pharmaceutical industry make him exceptionally qualified to meet the challenges of achieving our goal of bringing Amgen’s vital medicines to patients in Japan,” said George Morrow, executive vice president, Global Commercial Operations. “I am confident that he will prove a strong leader and a collaborative partner within Amgen's global operations to ensure organizational success.”

Posted on January 3, 2007 10:27 AM