Puerto Rican Esteban Santos, Executive Vice President of Operations at Amgen, anticipated a "bright" future for the multinational pharmaceutical company, both globally and for its operations in Puerto Rico. However, the executive stressed that the continuity of investments on the island will depend on Puerto Rico maintaining economic and political stability, as well as an environment that allows the company to plan long-term.
"Investments will continue as long as we maintain an economic ecosystem in Puerto Rico with stability, with a continuity of favorable economic development policy, as there has been throughout all these decades, and that gives us the certainty that investments in Puerto Rico are worthwhile. My opinion is that investments in Puerto Rico are worthwhile," said the engineer by profession.
For Santos, being Puerto Rican and holding one of the most relevant positions in global pharmaceutical manufacturing represents a great responsibility and opportunity to serve as a reference for other young Puerto Ricans who aspire to make their way in the industrial sector.
From Caguas to Amgen Leadership
Today, the "jibarito from Caguas" – as he described himself – leads global manufacturing, quality, engineering, process development, and supply chain processes worldwide.
"For me, that is the honor of having this role. It implies being responsible for a positive and motivating force for our people in Puerto Rico," said Santos in an interview with Negocios from Amgen's manufacturing plant in Juncos.
The pharmaceutical company's facilities, located in the so-called "City of the Valencian," began operations in 1992 and, from then until 2024, have seen an approximate investment of $5 billion, employing 2,200 people and building about 1.7 million square feet.
In the past year, the company has announced nearly $1 billion in investment in Puerto Rico. For example, in 2025, Amgen Manufacturing Limited (AML) revealed it would invest $650 million to increase drug production at the plant, integrate new technologies, and add approximately 750 jobs, including construction jobs and new highly skilled manufacturing positions.
Additionally, last month the pharmaceutical company announced an additional $300 million investment to boost production capacity in the country, enhance state-of-the-art technologies, and ensure a reliable supply of medicines for patients.
"It has been a history of investments over the years, and that history will continue as the business evolves, either due to new products or because we need to make investments and improve infrastructure or new technologies," said Amgen's Executive Vice President of Operations.
His role is decisive in the multinational company's decision-making regarding physical investments, products, technology, and talent, he affirmed.
Although he never imagined he would hold one of the most important positions in the biopharmaceutical sector, the Puerto Rican knew from the age of nine that he would dedicate himself to the field of science, technology, or engineering.
Santos, born in Cayey and raised in Caguas, is a product of Puerto Rico's public education system from elementary school to his undergraduate studies in engineering at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) in Mayagüez.
The engineer described his upbringing in "the Creole City" as "very beautiful," without luxuries, but with the example of a hardworking family that gave him an abundance of love and support. "My parents always instilled in me that the sky is the limit; you put in the effort, work, and good things will happen. They instilled it in me from a young age, and I believed it," he said with a smile.
The Leap That Changed His Trajectory
For Santos, one of the events that was decisive for his life occurred at the age of 23, when he risked leaving Puerto Rico with his family for Connecticut, where he also completed his Master of Business Administration at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Hartford.
"All I had was a paper with a job offer as a recent graduate that told me I was going to work as a development engineer at United Technologies, in Connecticut," he recounted. "At the end of the day, when you make a decision, you have to have the mindset that you have to make it work."
After that first leap, the executive has moved eight times in response to his professional growth.
Before joining Amgen, Santos was general manager of the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) Cordis plant in Puerto Rico, and prior to that, he held various management positions in General Electric's industrial and transportation divisions in Puerto Rico, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania.
He joined Amgen in 2007 as executive director of Manufacturing Technologies and, since then, has held multiple leadership positions in the operations of Amgen's manufacturing plants in the United States, Puerto Rico, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Singapore.
In his career, he has received 12 patents for inventions in electronic systems that helped control building automation and the electrical protection of power systems for industrial buildings.
Innovation as a Response to the Patent Cliff
One of the challenges facing the pharmaceutical industry globally is the so-called patent cliff, the moment when high-value medicines lose their patent protection and are exposed to competition from generic or biosimilar products.
For Santos, this scenario is part of the natural dynamic of the sector, but the answer lies in keeping the cycle of innovation and development of new treatments active.
"Yes, the patent aspect is very important for this industry. The context is that it requires billions of dollars to develop a medicine, and to have income based on those investments, patents are needed to protect that intellectual knowledge," he explained.
"It's part of this industry, it's part of what they are, how it affects companies if your research and development group fails to maintain that engine of innovation that generates new products and new medicines," he noted.
In Amgen's case, Santos affirmed that the strategy has been to continue allocating significant resources to R&D to sustain that cycle of innovation. The company, he indicated, invests approximately 20% of its revenue in this area.
"That's not something you do in one year. That has to be consistent, you have to do it year after year. And companies that don't make those investments then suffer, they have a higher probability of suffering the direct impact of a patent cliff," he said.
Amgen has invested approximately $7.3 billion in R&D during 2025, supporting early research, advanced-stage clinical programs, and commercial product support.
More Medicines on the Way
Santos added that Amgen currently has a product pipeline that allows it to look to the future with optimism and anticipated the arrival of new medicines.
"In our case, we have a pipeline that helps us maintain the company's growth," he expressed.
When asked if the coming years would bring new medicines developed by the pharmaceutical company, Santos responded affirmatively.
"If you assume my optimism for the future, the answer is yes," he affirmed.
Amgen's manufacturing plant in Juncos impacts more than 14 million patients and their families worldwide, manufacturing 29 of Amgen's 40 commercial products, such as Epogen, Repatha, Aimovig, Neulasta, Neupogen, Prolia, Nplate, Enbrel, among others.
AML distributes medicines and biopharmaceutical products to more than 60 countries.
"Dreaming Without Action Leads Nowhere"
With almost two decades at Amgen and a career that led him to global leadership positions, Santos also shared recommendations for young people aspiring to professional growth.
His first advice, he said, is to aim high, but to accompany those aspirations with discipline and action.
"You have to aim high. I think it's good to aspire and then take action to reach those aspirations. Dreaming is beautiful, but dreaming without action leads nowhere. But dreaming with action can lead you to a very beautiful future," he expressed.
In his opinion, constant preparation and performance in current responsibilities are key elements for opening new opportunities.
"You always have to do a good job in your current responsibilities. It's good to aspire to things in the future, but the most important credential for the next position is to do spectacular work in the position you hold today," he affirmed.