As the Amgen world turns

So why did it take Amgen almost two weeks to disclose that it had received a subpoena from the NY attorney general's office demanding documents on "promotional activities, sales and marketing activities, medical education, clinical studies, pricing and contracting, license and distribution agreements and corporate communications"? Michelle Leder at footnoted.org is curious about that - as well as the insider selling that's been going on at the Thousand Oaks-based drug company. Sen. Charles Grassley, who heads the Senate Finance Committee, last week asked Amgen for "documents and discussion" on whether the company provided complete responses to FDA data requests about its two anemia drugs, Epogen and Aranesp. No word on whether the committee will launch a full-scale inquiry, but as Leder notes, Amgen has now updated its "risk factors" to 25 pages from 17 pages when it first filed its 10-K on Feb. 28.

The good news is that Amgen shares are actually up a bit today. But here's more bad news: Moody's Investors Service has revised its rating outlook on Amgen to negative from stable - "at a time when its operating risk profile has increased and its cash flows face new uncertainties," according to Michael Levesque, senior vice president and credit analyst at Moody's. No wonder shareholders are suing.