A workman at Steve Elliott's house brought to life the importance of the scientist's research.

Elliott joined Amgen 20 years ago to work on erythropoietin, better known as the company's first blockbuster anemia drug Epogen, then headed the team that developed the next generation drug, Aranesp. He continues to research erythropoietin today.

The workman told Elliott that his mother had to travel from her home in Thousand Oaks for chemotherapy at University of California, Los Angeles, where she also received regular injections of erythropoietin. Anemia, a side effect of several things such as chemotherapy, is a low level of red blood cells that causes intense fatigue.

"The effort that was required to go down to this office was mind-boggling, if you really think about it," Elliott said. "If you are feeling so sick, it's not the sort of thing you feel like doing -- getting into a car and going into the traffic through L.A. to get to the doctor's office. It's just a horrible idea.

"So what if you could actually make it more convenient for the patient so they don't have to do that as often? And that was the idea behind Aranesp."

Aranesp is considered an improvement because it lasts three times longer than Epogen.

Elliott said patients are what motivates him to go to work.

"Every day, you can look around the community and you'll see people who are suffering or dying from diseases that we can impact. ... Every day that we delay means that people are going to die because we did not have the drug that day," he said. "So, every day is a waste. You gotta get it done now; don't waste another day, because we have a limited amount of time."

Elliott, who has become wealthy along with the company, thinks he might have another drug in him. That's what all the scientists who work in those halls think, he said.

"The silly things people often say, 'Why do you go to work?' 'Well, I'm here to cure cancer.' It's not a joke, it's not a trite thing. People really believe they can do that."

But the process is frustrating. From working at the computer developing models of the drug to the first experiments that work and then clearing clinical trials, there is so much potential for failure along the way. It might take more than a decade to develop a drug.

"So you're cautiously optimistic through this whole process and then you're hoping that you'll get approval from the Food and Drug Administration, that it's safe. But the real ultimate time you finally get excited is when you actually see somebody that has taken your drug and it has made a difference for them and they say 'Thank you,' " he said.

It looks easy to create a safe, effective drug, he said. The public doesn't understand the hundreds of millions of dollars poured into drug development every year, win or lose.

The cost is not in the chemicals in that little vial, he said, but in the safety that was built in, the failures that came before, and the development of drugs for the future.

He said Amgen is putting the money from those winners back into the company, making it more likely that other breakthroughs will come.

"I can come to Amgen now with the realization every day that if I have a good idea, that if it can't be done or developed here, it really can't be developed anywhere (else)," he said.

Whether it is treating cancer, Alzheimer's disease or osteoporosis, Elliott said he looks around his community and sees the need, and then looks at his company and sees the potential for the answer.

"We think we're this worldwide company that's selling our drugs throughout the world, which is true, but it's actually making a big difference in Ventura County," he said. "You know, just down the street from me, where my neighbor and friend are actually taking our drugs and it's making them better. It's improving their quality of life."

|