Amgen Prioritizes Obesity Drug and Growth Guidance, Ends Partnership with Kyorin

AMGEN INC. (NASDAQ: AMGN) has agreed to terminate its joint development and commercialization agreement with Kyowa Kirin for the atopic dermatitis candidate rocatinlimab. Under the transition plan, Kyowa Kirin will assume full responsibility—and associated costs—for development, manufacturing, and commercialization once regulatory approval is secured.

In the fourth quarter of 2025, Amgen reported revenues of $9.9 billion, a 9% increase year-over-year, bringing full-year 2025 revenues to $36.8 billion, up 10% from the prior year. The company issued 2026 guidance of $37.0 billion to $38.4 billion in revenues and raised its projected adjusted earnings per share.

After the U.S. Food and Drug Administration requested the voluntary withdrawal of the vasculitis treatment Tavneos, Amgen expressed confidence in the product’s safety and efficacy and stated it would not remove it from the market. The recent stock transaction by Amgen’s Executive Vice President of Research & Development was clarified as an automatic share withholding to cover tax obligations.

Amgen has identified its obesity portfolio—including the phase 3 MARITIME program for candidate maritide and next-generation candidate AMG 513—as a key growth driver. Following better-than-expected 2026 guidance, Amgen’s share price rose more than 8% after the earnings release.

Headquartered in California, Amgen is a global biopharmaceutical company with approved therapies in cardiovascular disease, oncology, immunology, and rare diseases, and is expanding into obesity and metabolic disorders. The company is also a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

With competition intensifying in GLP-1–based obesity treatments and novel immunology drugs, major pharmaceutical companies are streamlining non-core assets and reallocating resources toward high-growth pipeline programs—exemplified by the wind-down of the Amgen–Kyowa Kirin rocatinlimab partnership.