ARTICLE EXTRAS
Amylin Pharmaceuticals, a 20-year-old biopharmaceutical company based in San Diego, broke into our top ten last year and is the only small company to retain its Top Small Company ranking (seventh place) while growing significantly over the last two years. In 2005, Amylin netted $206 million, brought two first-in-class diabetes drugs to market, and has added 721 new employees over the last two years.
So how does this little company grow so much while remaining a great place to work?
The answer is simple: Amylin employees, no matter how large their company gets, take great pride in their work. Christian Weyer, executive director of the clinical research department at Amylin, says this sense of pride permeates the entire organization, from laboratory technicians to executive officers. "There is a lot of passion among people here for what they do," he says. Weyer adds that this shared sense of ...