Based: USA
R&D Budget: $2.72B (€1.99B)
Change from 08: -5.5%
Income spent on R&D: 19.6%

Now that Genentech has taken its position under the big Roche umbrella, Amgen ($AMGN) stands out as the unchallenged champ of Big Biotech R&D. Its $2.72 billion R&D budget is more than the next three budgets combined. And it's achieved a long-sought milestone this year with the first approval of the bone drug denosumab, which was recently followed with an important second regulatory green light as Amgen steadily grows the franchise.

By the middle of this year Amgen CEO Kevin Sharer was sitting on a $20 billion hoard for new acquisitions. That's one reason why Amgen figured prominently in the hot new rumors circulating recently that someone would soon make an offer for Switzerland's Acteleon. But Amgen, like the Big Pharma companies that it can compare itself to, is particularly interested in expanding into the emerging markets of the world.

Its big size, of course, is a result of many years of blockbuster revenue from some aging anemia treatments which are ripe for follow-on competition. Amgen is frequently singled out as one of the biggest prospective losers when biosimilars begin to make their mark. But increasingly it appears that Amgen has the time to remake itself before that happens. Buyouts will help build the business as R&D delivers fresh approvals for D-mab. The same strategy for the colorectal cancer drug Vectibix, though, has been a disappointment. The cancer drug failed a study for head-and-neck cancer earlier this year, blunting the drive to expand its market.