If you were at the Town Hall today you probably got the sense that a major change is in the works and will be announced "between Q3 and EOY". In-the-interim we will "pause to reassess our model and spend money more wisely". There were confusing answers to questions -- Q:"Why are we hearing mixed messages?" (rene of growth in Jan-2011 to one of budget cuts, hiring freezes, program closures post-positive ph2 results, etc), A:"There are no mixed messages, the strategy remains the same, we are at a pause..." -- but it is clear that "optimizing R&D", "stop pouring money into areas that will not show a return", and "do we need to do everything ourselves?" will lead to "changes to the R&D model". How will these changes affect you?
It was Kevin speaking like a politician instead of like the leader of a science based company that he is supposed to be. Very sad....
My prediction is that Amgen as you know it will not exist in 5 years. Kevin will make sure of it, simply a terrible CEO.