Amgen Leaders Discuss the Future of Health at Milken 2026

Amgen leaders took part in key conversations at the 2026 Milken Institute Global Conference, where CEO Bob Bradway and R&D EVP Jay Bradner addressed the future of healthcare, innovation and patient outcomes. CTO Dave Reese also spoke at a private panel about how public and private-sector partners can build stronger, more sustainable funding models for scientific research.

Amgen was a Strategic Partner of this year's Milken conference, part of a broader presence at major global forums in 2026 to help shape dialogue on innovation and patient care.

From Innovation to Impact

On a panel about "Delivering Results for the Next Era of Health," Bob emphasized a central challenge: while scientific innovation is advancing rapidly, the healthcare system is not keeping pace in delivering those breakthroughs to patients. He highlighted a critical gap in identifying and treating patients earlier, underscoring the need for stronger incentives, better system alignment and a renewed focus on prevention.

"Our focus is on innovation for serious diseases where there aren't good alternatives otherwise available today," Bob said. "Our objective is to try to develop medicines that make a meaningful difference for those patients, but there's nothing more frustrating than being successful in creating and getting a medicine registered and then finding that it's difficult for patients to get access to it."

Bob also reinforced the importance of sustaining a strong U.S. innovation ecosystem and addressing inefficiencies across the healthcare system to improve access and affordability.

Advancing Cancer Care and Prevention

Participating in a separate panel about the future of cancer care, Jay outlined how new scientific approaches are expanding what's possible in drug discovery, including technologies that can target previously "undruggable" diseases.

At the same time, he pointed to a major opportunity to shift more focus toward prevention-using large-scale human genetic data to identify protective mechanisms and design medicines that stop disease before it starts.

"We're poring over an increasingly large amount of human genetic information to ask questions of the experiments of nature. What protects against heart attack, obesity, the serious diseases that we care about at Amgen?" Jay said. "We're using artificial intelligence to guide us to new insights and new targets to prevent disease."

Jay emphasized the growing role of AI and data in accelerating discovery and improving how treatments are developed and delivered. Realizing that potential, however, will require stronger integration across the healthcare system.

Looking Ahead

The message from Milken was clear: breakthrough science is creating new possibilities, but delivering meaningful impact will depend on earlier intervention and ensuring innovation reaches patients when it matters most.

In addition to the conversations at the Milken Conference, Amgen also sponsored an AtlanticLIVE event nearby where Susan Sweeney, EVP, Obesity and Related Conditions, spoke ahead of three sessions discussing the future of obesity care.

"Across the world, only about 2% living with obesity are treated today," Susan said in her opening remarks. "At Amgen we are excited about bringing future treatments to the market and hearing how we can make an impact for the 98% who have not been able to benefit yet."