Amgen Raises 2026 Guidance as Key Growth Drivers Surge 24% in Q1 (AMGN Q1 2026 Earnings Call)
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Amgen reported a strong first quarter marked by robust 24% growth across its key product drivers, propelling a raise in full-year guidance and accelerating its expansive obesity and AI-driven clinical pipeline.
Emerging Growth Drivers Power First Quarter Revenue Beat
Amgen successfully executed through a period of patent expirations, delivering 4% overall product sales growth in the first quarter. This performance was anchored by the company's six key growth drivers—Repatha, Evenity, Tezspire, and the rare disease, innovative oncology, and biosimilars portfolios—which collectively generated $5.6 billion, representing 70% of total product sales and surging 24% year-over-year. Standouts included Repatha, which soared 34% to $876 million on the back of the landmark VESALIUS-CV outcomes data, and the rare disease portfolio, which grew 25% to $1.2 billion, fueled by a massive 188% increase in Uplizna sales to $262 million. These gains effectively offset anticipated declines, such as the 32% drop in combined Prolia and XGEVA sales due to accelerating biosimilar competition.
Full-Year Guidance Raised Amid Strong Profitability and Cash Flow
Reflecting confidence in its "springboard year" strategy, Amgen raised its full-year 2026 financial guidance, now projecting total revenues of $37.1 billion to $38.5 billion and non-GAAP earnings per share between $21.70 and $23.10. The company maintained a robust non-GAAP operating margin of 45% in the first quarter, even as non-GAAP research and development expenses increased by 16% to support late-stage pipeline advancements. Amgen generated $1.5 billion in free cash flow and deployed $700 million in capital expenditures, primarily to scale manufacturing capacity. Management reiterated expectations for approximately $2.6 billion in full-year capital expenditures to support anticipated volume growth, including the potential launch of its obesity candidate, Meritide.
Meritide Phase III Expansions and AI Integration Headline R&D
On the research and development front, Amgen announced significant expansions to the Phase III program for its novel obesity candidate, Meritide. The company initiated a highly anticipated "switch" study to evaluate transitioning patients from weekly GLP-1 injectables to Meritide's monthly or quarterly dosing schedule, alongside two long-term maintenance extension studies. Additionally, Chief Scientific Officer Jay Bradner highlighted Amgen's aggressive enterprise-wide integration of artificial intelligence following the announced retirement of Chief Technology Officer Dave Reese. AI implementations have already yielded tangible benefits, including accelerating antibody lead optimization by 50%, improving clinical trial enrollment rates up to threefold via a proprietary site selection model, and reducing manufacturing line clearance times from 30 minutes to just two minutes.
Q&A Focuses on Meritide Dosing Mechanics and Oncology Progress
During the question-and-answer session, analysts pressed for details on Meritide's switching mechanics and tolerability profile. Bradner explained that the three-step dose escalation currently being evaluated has further reduced nausea and vomiting compared to earlier trials, attributing this improved tolerability to the antibody backbone that avoids the sharp peak-to-trough exposures seen with weekly therapies. Analysts also probed the rapid adoption of Imdeltra in small cell lung cancer. Executives noted that the therapy generated $258 million in the quarter and is rapidly becoming the second-line standard of care, with the FDA recently selecting Imdeltra for a pilot program to evaluate real-world clinical trial designs in frontline settings.