The crisis has finally caught up to the Amgen ceo.

For months, Sharer was in denial. Never mind the mounting problems - The FDA issued strict warnings on its key products, Aranesp and Epogen. Congress is investigating the marketing and safety of these drugs. The SEC is probing its failure to tell Wall Street that a key clinical trial ended over safety concerns, which only became known after an industry newsletter published the details. Medicare reduced reimbursement. And the stock is near a 52-week low.

Frustration is so high that unnamed investors, employees and patients are circulating an Internet petition to urge Amgen’s board to throw Sharer overboard. Of course, the $34 million in total compensation Sharer received last year may have blinded him a bit. Today, however, he bravely stepped before the microphones and commandeered an hour-long teleconference for investors and the media to announce job cuts of up to 2,600; plant and office closings, and reduced earnings for this year.

“This is a major test for the company and its leadership. There’s no denying that,” says Sharer, who keeps a portrait of the famously stubborn English admiral Horatio Nelson in his office. “But we are a company and a management team that deals with reality…If change comes, we’ll change.”