Thousand Oaks-based biotech giant Amgen Inc. announced this month that it plans to invest more than $600 million in a new, state-of-the-art center for science and innovation at its global headquarters.

According to the company, the four-story building is designed to bring together researchers, engineers and scientists across disciplines to enhance collaboration and accelerate the discovery of next-generation therapeutics for patients with the most serious diseases. The center will replace an existing building and will feature advanced automation and digital capabilities. The square footage of the new building has not been disclosed.

Construction was set to break ground by the end of this month; no completion date was given. The company did say the construction process would create hundreds of jobs.

“At Amgen, we’re continuing to invest in the future of American science and innovation,” Robert Bradway, Amgen’s chief executive, said in the Sept. 2 announcement. “This new center will empower our scientists with the tools and collaborative environment they need to shape the next era of scientific discovery and advance medicines that improve human health.”

The announcement noted that since the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 – during President Donald Trump’s first term – Amgen has invested more than $40 billion in manufacturing and research and development facilities around the globe. The company said more than $5 billion of that has been invested in the United States. Amgen added that the recently enacted One Big Beautiful Bill Act helped foster this latest investment.

‘Best-in-class medicines’

Amgen, which was founded in Thousand Oaks in 1980, recorded revenue last year of $33.4 billion and nearly $4.1 billion in net income. The company has about 40 separate drugs in its product line covering four broad treatment areas: general medicine, rare disease, inflammation and oncology.

According to Bradway’s letter in the company’s 2024 annual report, Amgen invested $6 billion in research and development last year, up 25% from the previous year.

“We have numerous potential first- or best-in-class medicines moving rapidly through our pipeline to treat obesity and obesity-related conditions, cancer, heart disease, and many other serious illnesses,” Bradway wrote.

The announcement of this new research facility comes three years after Amgen opened a nine-story 245,000-square-foot research center in South San Francisco. That center can accommodate up to 650 researchers and support staff. The company has not disclosed the cost of that facility.

While Amgen has been building massive research and development facilities in California, its recent manufacturing investments have been outside the state.

In April, Amgen opened a $900 million expansion of its manufacturing facility in New Albany, Ohio, that originally opened in February of last year. The total plant now employs roughly 750.

Last December, Amgen announced a $1 billion investment to build a second manufacturing plant in Holly Springs, North Carolina. It’s next door to a $550 million facility that broke ground in 2022 and is set to open early next year.

Amgen’s largest manufacturing campus is in Juncos, Puerto Rico. The company has invested nearly $5 billion over the past 33 years on the 200-acre campus that now encompasses 20 buildings totaling 1.6 million square feet. According to the company, roughly 2,400 employees now work there. It is the only facility with end-to-end manufacturing capability.