Amgen Chairman Seeks to Sell 100,000 Shares

Amgen Chairman Gordon Binder has filed to sell $8.1 million in shares as rising sales of anemia drug Epogen pushed the world’s largest biotechnology company’s stock to a record high.

Binder said in a disclosure statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that he intends to sell 100,000 shares of Thousand Oaks based-Amgen, according to the Washington Service, which tracks insider trading.

In September, 10 Amgen insiders sold 426,000 shares, the highest one-month total this year. So far this year, Amgen shares have soared 50%, outperforming the 15% gain in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.

The selling is probably linked to the expiration of stock options, which are part of Binder’s compensation, said Jay Silverman, a BancBoston Robertson Stephens analyst.