Amgen cuts cause anxiety
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November 30, 2011 • Maddi Realli, Features Editor
Filed under Features
Spearheading the development of human therapeutics, Amgen has been making important discoveries in the medical field since 1980. Amgen develops, manufactures and delivers its products and has been very helpful to the community. For many students, the desire to pursue a career at a company like Amgen or any number of pharmaceutical companies is slowly dwindling, along with the size of the workforce. So far, approximately 226 employees at Amgen have been laid off, including senior Michael Yuan’s father. More layoffs are soon to come.
“[Amgen is] where my parents worked for a very long time. [They] created medicine to help other people,” Yuan said.
Since both of his parents have been working at Amgen for about 11 years, the sudden unemployment was very unexpected.
“I was surprised, because he’s been working there for as long as I can remember,” he said.
While Yuan’s parents worked at Amgen, they were two of the many employees who contributed to scientific strides in the medical field.
While working at Amgen, his father worked on much needed treatments for Alzheimer’s disease as well as cancer.
With this drastic change in the lives of Yuan and his parents, he reflects on how life could have been.
“I was thinking about [entering the medical field through Amgen],” he said. “I was really good at chemistry and both of my parents worked there. But now there’s not many jobs in that field anymore.”
When it comes to the future, Yuan can’t help but feel more then a bit apprehensive.
“Number one, I’m scared for college,” he said. “I’m not sure I can afford it with just my mom’s salary. Now I have to save up.”
To help save money to send Yuan off to college, his mother continues to work very hard at Amgen, while his father sells a few properties that the family owns. Throughout all the uncertainties, Yuan’s father does his best to remain optimistic.
“I know a lot of kids with parents who were laid off too,” Yuan said. “Stay positive. Don’t ever think that you need to give up on your future just because you have less than you did before.”
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