Global Code of Ethics for Clinical Trials

Purpose

This Policy sets forth Amgen’s Code of Ethics for clinical trials.

Scope

This Code of Ethics applies globally to all Amgen clinical trial activities.

Policy

Amgen’s mission is to serve patients and its clinical trial activities are carefully designed to meet this goal. Amgen strives to maintain high ethical principles, as well as high scientific and clinical standards in all its clinical trials regardless of where they take place. The rights, dignity, safety and well being of research participants are paramount in conducting Amgen clinical trials. To that end, all Amgen sponsored trials are designed and conducted to the same high standards that meet or exceed all applicable local laws as well as widely accepted international regulatory standards. Amgen maintains internal procedures to ensure compliance with these laws. Amgen procedures cover:

Appropriateness: All Amgen research is designed to address a legitimate scientific question or need. All Amgen research must be reviewed and approved by an appropriate review body within Amgen Research & Development. Research & Development personnel are responsible for all steps of the design, conduct, and publication of research. Amgen prospectively evaluates its research programs to ensure that the potential benefit to the patient and to society is in proportion to the inherent risk and burden to the research participants.

Diversity and Inclusion: Amgen strives to conduct clinical research that is as representative as possible of the intended patient population for the investigational product. Amgen aims to achieve this goal by encouraging inclusion of a diverse range of participants – including, but not limited to race, ethnicity, sex/gender, and age in clinical trials. Amgen intends to use a patient-centric approach to clinical trial design that accounts for the patient perspective on the burden of disease and barriers to trial participation to help improve clinical trial recruitment, enrollment, and retention of diverse populations.

Selection of Investigators: Amgen selects clinical investigators based on qualifications, training, research, clinical expertise in relevant fields, the potential to recruit research participants, and the ability to conduct clinical trials consistent with this Policy. Amgen respects the independence of clinical investigators and others involved in clinical research so they can protect the best interest of research participants. Amgen does not engage any clinical investigators who have been debarred, disqualified or restricted from participating in clinical research.

Ethical Review: Amgen sponsored trials undergo an ethical review, as required, by a qualified independent committee (Institutional Review Board/Independent Ethics Committee) prior to trial initiation.

Privacy: Amgen is committed to protecting research participant privacy, collecting minimum subject identifiers (ensuring compliance with guidelines for good clinical practice when appropriate), and complying with all applicable privacy laws and regulations. Amgen requires that its agents are contractually obligated to do the same.

Quality of Clinical Data: Amgen ensures data are reliable and have been processed and reported correctly by using established data standards.

Informed Consent: Amgen requires voluntary informed consent from research participants, where needed, prior to carrying out any protocol specified procedures. Informed consent outlines the known benefits and risks of participating in the trial. Amgen process for obtaining informed consent takes into account local law, language and custom as well as the ability of research participants to understand the information presented. Amgen takes additional steps to ensure appropriate informed consent for vulnerable research participants, such as minors. Amgen ensures that human biological material is collected and utilized solely for the purposes for which it was consented.

Safety Monitoring: Amgen ensures research participants are appropriately monitored throughout clinical trials, including long-term follow up as needed. Amgen ensures that adverse event information regarding its products is collected, processed, reported, analyzed and communicated. Amgen continuously monitors the safety of its investigational therapies by ensuring clinical investigators appropriately report adverse event information and appropriately update research participants and others, as appropriate, of any new risks associated with the use of the investigational product that arise during the course of the clinical trial.

Standard of Care: Amgen sets up and monitors its clinical trials to ensure the rights and well-being of research participants are protected. The standard of care provided to control groups is, at a minimum, equivalent to well-established and commonly employed local treatment.

Access to Investigational Product: To serve patients, Amgen engages in clinical research with the goal of obtaining regulatory approval of its products. Clinical trials allow Amgen to evaluate investigational new treatments in human volunteers in order to generate the safety and efficacy information needed to obtain approval of those treatments and make them available to the broader patient population. Outside of a clinical trial, access to Amgen’s investigational products would be considered under limited circumstances only, and as permitted by applicable law:

• Amgen may provide continued access to its investigational products to research participants once a clinical trial is complete.
• Amgen may provide physician-requested expanded access to its investigational products to patients with life-threatening diseases who lack other therapeutic options, cannot join an active clinical trial of the investigational product, and where sufficient clinical evidence of safety and efficacy in the indication has been established; the potential benefit justifies the potential risks, and the potential risks are not unreasonable within the context of the disease or condition.

Compensation: Amgen ensures that any payments or other items provided to research participants are appropriate based on the local economy and do not unduly influence their decision to participate or continue to participate in a clinical research study. Any such arrangements are evaluated as part of the ethical review. Amgen provides locally appropriate compensation for injuries, which is disclosed to research participants as part of the informed consent process. Amgen payments to clinical investigators will be within Fair Market Value, and shall be based upon the services rendered.

Transparency: Amgen makes publicly available information about its clinical trials in compliance with all applicable laws, regulations and company commitments. Where required, Amgen registers trials and posts results on public registries; releases study-related documents such as protocols and study reports; and provides plain-language summaries of trial results. Amgen is committed to submit clinical trial results for publication regardless of trial outcome or regulatory approval.

Amgen’s Global Code of Ethics for Clinical Trials is posted on Amgen’s external website for potential clinical investigators and potential research participants to review prior to committing to participate in an Amgen trial.

Updated: March 1, 2021