According to Los Angeles Daily News, Amgen's 675 layoffs represent 8% of its 8,300 Thousand Oaks employees, but no one is too surprised. Amgen's layoffs will have an impact on the southern California economy given the recent downward spiral of Countrywide Financial Corp's 20% workforce layoff (about 10,000 jobs). For those of us in the pharmaceutical industry, however, we've been expecting this ever since Amgen's star drug Aranesp faced reimbursement difficulties and safety concerns. Aranesp is often used in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy to help boost their blood counts.