November 2, 2005 (San Fransico, CA) – At a San Francisco press launch for the inaugural Tour of California today, the event owner, AEG, announced a three-year title sponsorship commitment from the biotech giant Amgen, manufacturer of Epogen, the proscribed drug of choice of cyclists during the ’90s.

The 7-stage, 700 mile Amgen Tour of California will be held February 19-26, 2006, and starts with a prologue in San Francisco prior to seven full stages that take riders from Sausalito to Santa Rosa; Martinez to San Jose, an individual time trial in San Jose; Monterey to San Luis Obispo; Santa Barbara to Thousand Oaks – where the stage finishes on the Amgen campus; and finishes with a circuit race in Redondo Beach.

“We see this event as an opportunity to educate people about the safe and proper use of our products,” said Phyllis Piano, the vice president of corporate communications and philanthropy at Amgen.

Piano expressed dismay about the abuse of EPO by cyclists, saying, “We never dreamed athletes would use Epogen to gain an advantage in cycling races.”

On hand was Steve Elliott, the scientific director of hematology at Amgen, who explained the company’s role in combating EPO abuse, and why Amgen had not, as voices in the cycling industry had requested, added an identification marker to the drug. “Any time you add a molecule to a drug it compromises safety. Instead, our approach was to help testing labs come up with a method of catching people cheating. Prior to the 2000 Olympics I went to Lausanne and worked with the people at the World Anti-Doping Agency and the testing lab there on the urine test for EPO.”

What may be good news for legitimate users of Amgen’s erythrocite products, but bad news for dishonest cyclists, is Amgen’s successor to Epogen: Aranesp. Aranesp has a significantly longer half-life than Epogen, meaning it stays in the body for more time. While physicians and patients may welcome the less-frequent administering of Aranesp, its increased half-life would likely increase the risk of a postive out-of-competition test in the cycling world.

Seven mayors were present at the press conference, signaling a greater municipal commitment to the sport than cycling in the USA has been accustomed to.

San Francisco’s mayor, Gavin Newsom, explained “This is a big deal for San Francisco. We’re trying hard to be competitive in a global environment. We’re not just competing as a city against other states and other countries, we’re competing against cities in the region. It’s city versus city, region versus region. Wherever the organizers want to start the race: the Embarcadero, Coit Tower, the Golden Gate Bridge, I don’t care, we’ll make it work! We’re behind this race 100%”.

One of the primary goals of AEG in taking on this five year/$35 million project is to grow the sport of cycling in the USA. AEG’s CEO Tim Leiwicke described it as “a crime,” that “our athletes must go and train in Europe, and our athletes must compete in Europe. That’s not going to happen anymore.” He outlined his intention to create, over a five-year period, an event that, like majors before such as the Dupont Tour and Coors Classic, brings many top world cyclists to compete in the USA.

Mayor Newsom, for one, was convinced. “My first reaction was ‘well good luck’ but in the subsequent weeks, I’ve come to realize they’re not kidding, they’re not exaggerating.”

The race will be aired on ESPN2 in eight same-day episodes in the primetime slot. Plans also exist for international television distribution.

The event web site is www.amgentourofcalifornia.com