Amgen announced Friday the resignation of Lowell Sears, thecompany's senior vice president responsible for the Asia-Pacific region and acting chief financial officer.

The company is actively courting new candidates for the CFOposition, a company spokesman said, but has not yet made adecision. Amgen of Thousand Oaks, Calif., hopes to announce areplacement for Sears in 30 to 60 days, the spokesman said.

Sears' responsibilities in the Asia-Pacific region will beassumed by Daryl Hill, who had been serving as Amgen's vicepresident of quality assurance since October 1988.

Sears joined Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) in 1986 and was full-time CFO from 1988-1992. According to the spokesman, he isleaving for personal reasons. Although Sears has expressed aninterest in serving an organization as chief executive, he isleaving the company without a specific offer.

(c) 1997 American Health Consultants. All rights reserved.