CompetitorsNarrow moat

Amgen (AMGN) — moat facet

Amgen has no single great rival; it has dozens of drug-by-drug contests, and the most damaging competitors in 2026 are copy makers it cannot even name.

Amgen's 10-K lists its competitors drug by drug, and the list is long: Novartis, Regeneron and Sanofi against Repatha; AbbVie, Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis and Bristol Myers Squibb against Otezla; four established biologics against TEZSPIRE; and, against Prolia and XGEVA, a single line reading denosumab biosimilars, various1. There is no single rival that meets Amgen everywhere, and only two of its large drugs, TEPEZZA and KRYSTEXXA, currently do not face any direct competitors in the United States, Europe or Japan2.

Competitors by kindRival whose drug Amgen copiesRegeneron (EYLEA, PRALUENT, DUPIXENT)Rival on four frontsNovartisPartner it part-ownsBeOne, about 17%Incumbents to displaceLilly and Novo Nordisk in obesityGrowth drivers, Q2 2026+26%Amgen Form 10-K FY2025; Q2 2026 10-Q and results release
Four different kinds of rival.

The four pages below are four kinds of relationship. Regeneron makes the eye drug Amgen copies with PAVBLU, sues Amgen over it, and competes with Repatha and TEZSPIRE34. Novartis is the rival met on the most fronts. BeOne is a partner in China in which Amgen owns about 17%5. And Lilly and Novo Nordisk are the incumbents Amgen must displace in obesity if MariTide is to matter.

The unnamed denosumab copy makers are the most damaging competitors of 2026, taking about a third of Prolia and XGEVA's sales in the second quarter6; that story has its own page, Prolia and XGEVA: The Copies Arrive, and is not repeated here.

Competition in this industry is decided by patents, clinical data and the benefit managers' formularies more than by price wars between originators, which is why so many of Amgen's rivals appear only as names in a table.

Some competition comes from outside the class. The 10-K notes that TEPEZZA faces competition from other therapies, such as corticosteroids, which have been used on an off-label basis7, and that TEPEZZA and KRYSTEXXA may face competition from competitor medicines currently in clinical trials8. The absence of direct rivals is a statement about the present; the pipeline of other companies decides how long it lasts.

The competitive test for Amgen is whether its growth drivers keep outgrowing the rivals in their classes. The six drivers grew 26% in the second quarter of 20269; a fall below 10% while the named rivals keep launching would say the next generation of patients is going elsewhere.

Moat trajectory: Holding steady

Growth drivers up 26% in Q2 2026; denosumab copies taking share.

The number that tests this moat
Reported
Growth of the six key growth drivers, latest quarter
+26% (Q2 2026), nearly 70% of product sales

Amgen against the rivals in its growing classes; a fall below 10% would mean new patients are going elsewhere.

Source: Amgen Q2 2026 results release ↗
Dig deeper
DIG DEEPER 01
Regeneron: The Rival Whose Drug Amgen Copies
Amgen sells a copy of Regeneron's EYLEA while Regeneron sues to stop it and competes with Repatha and TEZSPIRE.
DIG DEEPER 02
Novartis: The Rival Met on Four Fronts
Novartis competes with five Amgen drugs worth about $10.5 billion, more of Amgen's revenue than any other single rival touches.
DIG DEEPER 03
BeOne: The China Partner Amgen Part-Owns
Amgen paid $2.8 billion for about a fifth of BeOne, which now sells three of its drugs in China indefinitely and competes with it in cancer.
DIG DEEPER 04
Lilly and Novo Nordisk: The Incumbents in Obesity
Amgen enters obesity against two entrenched leaders, betting that a few injections a year can pull patients away from weekly ones.
References
  1. ReportedAmgen's 10-K lists its competitors drug by drug, and the list is long: Novartis, Regeneron and Sanofi against Repatha; AbbVie, Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis and Bristol Myers Squibb against Otezla; four established biologics against TEZSPIRE; and, against Prolia and XGEVA, a single line reading denosumab biosimilars, various.
    Amgen Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 - Item 1 patents, biosimilars and competitors. — FY2025 · publ. 13 February 2026 · source ↗
  2. ReportedThere is no single rival that meets Amgen everywhere, and only two of its large drugs, TEPEZZA and KRYSTEXXA, currently do not face any direct competitors in the United States, Europe or Japan.
    Amgen Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 - Item 1 patents, biosimilars and competitors. — FY2025 · publ. 13 February 2026 · source ↗
  3. ReportedRegeneron makes the eye drug Amgen copies with PAVBLU, sues Amgen over it, and competes with Repatha and TEZSPIRE.
    Amgen Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 - Item 1A risk factors, government pricing and legal proceedings including the IRS dispute. — FY2025 · publ. 13 February 2026 · source ↗
  4. ReportedRegeneron makes the eye drug Amgen copies with PAVBLU, sues Amgen over it, and competes with Repatha and TEZSPIRE.
    Amgen Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 - Item 1 patents, biosimilars and competitors. — FY2025 · publ. 13 February 2026 · source ↗
  5. ReportedBeOne is a partner in China in which Amgen owns about 17%.
    Amgen Form 10-Q for the quarter ended 30 June 2026 - product sales, the TAVNEOS proceeding, the IRS dispute, the BeOne stake and the balance sheet. — Q2 2026 · publ. 5 August 2026 · source ↗
  6. ReportedThe unnamed denosumab copy makers are the most damaging competitors of 2026, taking about a third of Prolia and XGEVA's sales in the second quarter; that story has its own page, Prolia and XGEVA: The Copies Arrive, and is not repeated here.
    Amgen second-quarter 2026 results release, Form 8-K exhibit 99.1 - product sales performance: Repatha, EVENITY, Prolia and XGEVA. — Q2 2026 · publ. 4 August 2026 · source ↗
  7. ReportedThe 10-K notes that TEPEZZA faces competition from other therapies, such as corticosteroids, which have been used on an off-label basis, and that TEPEZZA and KRYSTEXXA may face competition from competitor medicines currently in clinical trials.
    Amgen Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 - Item 1 patents, biosimilars and competitors. — FY2025 · publ. 13 February 2026 · source ↗
  8. ReportedThe 10-K notes that TEPEZZA faces competition from other therapies, such as corticosteroids, which have been used on an off-label basis, and that TEPEZZA and KRYSTEXXA may face competition from competitor medicines currently in clinical trials.
    Amgen Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 - Item 1 patents, biosimilars and competitors. — FY2025 · publ. 13 February 2026 · source ↗
  9. ReportedThe six drivers grew 26% in the second quarter of 2026; a fall below 10% while the named rivals keep launching would say the next generation of patients is going elsewhere.
    Amgen second-quarter 2026 results release, Form 8-K exhibit 99.1 - product sales performance: inflammation, rare disease and established products, and sales by region. — Q2 2026 · publ. 4 August 2026 · source ↗
Sources
Generated September 28, 2026