THOUSAND OAKS, Calif., Dec. 11, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) today announced a novel multi-year collaboration with Magellan Rx Management, the pharmacy benefit management division of Magellan Health, that will leverage each company's capabilities and resources to identify clinical gaps for some of the healthcare system's most difficult-to-treat diseases. Based on Amgen and Magellan's extensive expertise in complex areas of health and specialty populations, the initial projects will focus on improving patient outcomes for the treatment of osteoporosis and migraine. These projects mark Amgen's first value-based collaboration with a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM).

"Amgen's collaboration with Magellan Rx demonstrates our commitment to cultivating deeper, more meaningful relationships with PBMs, moving beyond the typical transactional agreements towards a model that truly improves care for patients while at the same time lowering costs," said Peter Juhn, M.D., vice president of Global Value-Based Partnerships at Amgen. "This relationship creates a nexus of capabilities between Amgen and Magellan Rx. Together, we can drive innovative solutions to manage the fastest-growing high-cost areas of healthcare."

Amgen and Magellan Rx's osteoporosis project will aim to improve disease management in patients following a bone fracture. The likelihood of a second fracture in these osteoporosis patients increases three to five times, but only a quarter are evaluated and treated. Importantly, the project will also help determine if an individualized program to identify high-risk osteoporosis patients and intervene with resources and information will lead to better health outcomes, and consequently reduce costs for the healthcare system.

The Magellan Rx team will contribute resources, including teaching patients how to care for fractures, the risks of not taking medication as prescribed, and of changes they can make to their lifestyle to minimize future fractures. Resources will also include education for healthcare providers to help them identify the obstacles that prevent patients from optimally managing their condition and treatment plan, as well as tools to help providers educate their patients on the critical aspects of their condition and care.

Amgen and Magellan Rx also share an interest in understanding the unmet needs of people living with migraines and finding opportunities to improve the treatment experience, especially non-opioid alternatives. Currently, the financial and clinical burdens of this disease are not well understood by payers and employers, despite the fact that U.S. employers lose an estimated $11 billion because of migraine each year, largely due to missed work days and lost productivity.¹

Magellan Method, Magellan Rx's innovation division, will work with its employer and payer customers to gain real-world patient insights around migraine management, including the cost of migraine, gaps in treatment and opportunities to improve care. These insights will help inform the development of educational materials for employers, payers and patients around the burden of migraines to support improvements in patient outcomes and the utilization of treatment resources.

"We're collaborating to evaluate the impact of interventions in patients with migraine or osteoporosis," said Steve Michurski, senior vice president of Trade Relations at Magellan Rx. "We have a unique testing opportunity that can offer real-world evidence. This relationship combines our collective capabilities and resources to create value and insights for patients and providers across healthcare systems."

About Amgen 
Amgen is committed to unlocking the potential of biology for patients suffering from serious illnesses by discovering, developing, manufacturing, and delivering innovative human therapeutics. This approach begins by using tools like advanced human genetics to unravel the complexities of disease and understand the fundamentals of human biology.

Amgen focuses on areas of high unmet medical need and leverages its expertise to strive for solutions that improve health outcomes and dramatically improve people's lives. A biotechnology pioneer since 1980, Amgen has grown to be one of the world's leading independent biotechnology companies, has reached millions of patients around the world and is developing a pipeline of medicines with breakaway potential.

For more information, visit www.amgen.com and follow us on www.twitter.com/amgen.

Amgen and Value-Based Programs
As a collaborative partner within the healthcare system, Amgen believes that engaging in value-based programs with stakeholders creates mutually beneficial opportunities to improve costs, quality of care and the patient experience.

Globally, Amgen is engaged in over 100 distinct, value-based projects, spanning disease state collaborations, risk sharing and outcomes-based agreements. The Company has more than 25 ongoing partnerships in the United States with PBMs, integrated delivery health networks, Medicaid plans and technology companies, and has several other collaborations under development.

About Magellan Rx Management
Magellan Rx Management is a full-service, next generation PBM with a value-driven approach that moves past the traditional volume-focused thinking to deliver meaningful solutions. Our services expand beyond traditional core services to help our customers and members solve complex pharmacy challenges by connecting them to the people, technology and information they need to make smarter healthcare decisions. As pioneers in managing specialty spend both on the prescription and medical benefit, we are effectively-positioned to continue delivering thought-leading solutions in this complex and rapidly growing area of healthcare to help people live healthier lives. Magellan Rx Management is a division of Magellan Health, Inc. For more information, visit MagellanRx.com.

Amgen Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on the current expectations and beliefs of Amgen. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including estimates of revenues, operating margins, capital expenditures, cash, other financial metrics, expected legal, arbitration, political, regulatory or clinical results or practices, customer and prescriber patterns or practices, reimbursement activities and outcomes and other such estimates and results. Forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties, including those discussed below and more fully described in the Securities and Exchange Commission reports filed by Amgen, including our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequent periodic reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K. Unless otherwise noted, Amgen is providing this information as of the date of this news release and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this document as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed and actual results may differ materially from those we project. Our results may be affected by our ability to successfully market both new and existing products domestically and internationally, clinical and regulatory developments involving current and future products, sales growth of recently launched products, competition from other products including biosimilars, difficulties or delays in manufacturing our products and global economic conditions. In addition, sales of our products are affected by pricing pressure, political and public scrutiny and reimbursement policies imposed by third-party payers, including governments, private insurance plans and managed care providers and may be affected by regulatory, clinical and guideline developments and domestic and international trends toward managed care and healthcare cost containment. Furthermore, our research, testing, pricing, marketing and other operations are subject to extensive regulation by domestic and foreign government regulatory authorities. We or others could identify safety, side effects or manufacturing problems with our products, including our devices, after they are on the market. Our business may be impacted by government investigations, litigation and product liability claims. In addition, our business may be impacted by the adoption of new tax legislation or exposure to additional tax liabilities. While we routinely obtain patents for our products and technology, the protection offered by our patents and patent applications may be challenged, invalidated or circumvented by our competitors, or we may fail to prevail in present and future intellectual property litigation. We perform a substantial amount of our commercial manufacturing activities at a few key facilities, including in Puerto Rico, and also depend on third parties for a portion of our manufacturing activities, and limits on supply may constrain sales of certain of our current products and product candidate development. In addition, we compete with other companies with respect to many of our marketed products as well as for the discovery and development of new products. Discovery or identification of new product candidates cannot be guaranteed and movement from concept to product is uncertain; consequently, there can be no guarantee that any particular product candidate will be successful and become a commercial product. Further, some raw materials, medical devices and component parts for our products are supplied by sole third-party suppliers. Certain of our distributors, customers and payers have substantial purchasing leverage in their dealings with us. The discovery of significant problems with a product similar to one of our products that implicate an entire class of products could have a material adverse effect on sales of the affected products and on our business and results of operations. Our efforts to acquire other companies or products and to integrate the operations of companies we have acquired may not be successful. A breakdown, cyberattack or information security breach could compromise the confidentiality, integrity and availability of our systems and our data. Our stock price is volatile and may be affected by a number of events. Our business performance could affect or limit the ability of our Board of Directors to declare a dividend or our ability to pay a dividend or repurchase our common stock. We may not be able to access the capital and credit markets on terms that are favorable to us, or at all.

CONTACT:  Amgen, Thousand Oaks
Kristen Neese, 805-313-8267 (media)
Kristen Davis, 805-447-3008 (media)
Arvind Sood, 805-447-1060 (investors)

¹ Hawkins K, et al. Indirect cost burden of migraine in the United States. J Occup Environ Med. 2007 Apr; 49(4):368-74.

SOURCE Amgen

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