As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 17, 1999
                                                           Registration No. 333-
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                      SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                            Washington, D.C. 20549

                                   FORM S-8
                         REGISTRATION STATEMENT UNDER
                          THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

                                  AMGEN INC.
            (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

           DELAWARE                                               95-3540776
  (State or other jurisdiction                                (I.R.S. Employer
of incorporation or organization)                            Identification No.)
 
         One Amgen Center Drive
       Thousand Oaks, California                                  91320-1789
(Address of Principal Executive Offices)                          (Zip Code)
                               ----------------

                         AMGEN LIMITED SHARESAVE PLAN

                            (Full title of the plan)

                              ------------------
                           GEORGE A. VANDEMAN, ESQ.
  Senior Vice President, Corporate Development, General Counsel and Secretary
                                  Amgen Inc.
                            One Amgen Center Drive
                     Thousand Oaks, California 91320-1799
                    (Name and address of agent for service)
                                (805) 447-1000
         (Telephone Number, Including Area Code, of Agent For Service)

                              -------------------
                                  Copies to:
                               GARY OLSON, ESQ.
                               Latham & Watkins
                       633 West Fifth Street, Suite 4000
                      Los Angeles, California 90071-2007
                                 (213) 485-1234

                        CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------


 
                                               Proposed             Proposed
     Title of              Amount              Maximum              Maximum
 Securities to be          to be          Offering Price           Aggregate           Amount of
    Registered           Registered         Per Share (1)      Offering Price (1)  Registration Fee
                                                                       
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Common Stock              200,000         $48.90                $9,780,000          $2,718.84
$.0001 par value
===================================================================================================

_________________________

(1)  For purposes of computing the registration fee only. Pursuant to Rule
     457(h), the Proposed Maximum Offering Price Per Share is based upon the
     basis of the price at which the options may be exercised by the employees
     of Amgen Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amgen Inc.

                        Exhibit Index appears on Page 7

 
                                    PART I

Item 1.  Plan Information

     Not required to be filed with this Registration Statement.

Item 2.  Registrant Information and Employee Plan Annual Information

     Not required to be filed with this Registration Statement.

                                    PART II

Item 3.  Incorporation of Documents by Reference

     The registrant, Amgen Inc., a Delaware corporation (the "Company" or the
"Registrant"), hereby incorporates the following documents in this Registration
Statement by reference:

     A.   The Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December
          31, 1998; and

     B.   Description of the Company's Common Stock, Contractual contingent
          payment rights and preferred share rights plan contained in the
          Registration Statements on Form 8-A filed with the SEC on September 7,
          1983 and April 1, 1993, and the Form 8-K filed with the SEC on
          February 28, 1997, respectively.

     All documents filed by the Company pursuant to Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14
and 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange
Act"), prior to the filing of a post-effective amendment which indicates that
all securities offered have been sold or which deregisters all securities then
remaining unsold, are incorporated by reference in this Registration Statement
and are a part hereof from the date of filing such documents.  Any statement
contained in a document incorporated or deemed to be incorporated by reference
herein shall be deemed to be modified or superseded for purposes of this
Registration Statement to the extent that a statement contained herein or in any
other subsequently filed document which also is or is deemed to be incorporated
by reference herein modifies or supersedes such statement.  Any such statement
so modified or superseded shall not be deemed, except as so modified or
superseded, to constitute a part of this Registration Statement.

Item 4.  Description of Securities

     Not applicable.

Item 5.  Interests of Named Experts and Counsel

     Not applicable.

Item 6.  Indemnification of Directors and Officers

     Section 145 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, the Restated
Certificate of Incorporation, as amended, and the Amended and Restated Bylaws of
the Company contain provisions covering indemnification of corporate directors
and officers against certain liabilities and expenses incurred as a result of
proceedings involving such persons in their capacities as directors and
officers, including proceedings under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended
(the "Securities Act") and the Exchange Act.

     The Company has authorized the entering into of indemnity contracts and
provides indemnity insurance pursuant to which officers and directors are
indemnified or insured against liability or loss under certain circumstances
which may include liability or related loss under the Securities Act and the
Exchange Act.

Item 7.  Exemption from Registration Claimed

Not applicable.

                                       2

 
Item 8.  Exhibits

4.1   Amgen Limited Sharesave Plan

5.1   Opinion of Latham & Watkins as to the legality of the shares being
      registered.

23.1   Consent of Ernst & Young LLP

23.2   Consent of Latham & Watkins (included in Exhibit 5.1 hereto).

24.1   Powers of Attorney (included on page 5).

Item 9.  Undertakings

         The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes:

         (1) To file, during any period in which offers or sales are being made,
a post-effective amendment to this Registration Statement:

             (a) To include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3) of the
         Securities Act;

             (b) To reflect in the prospectus any facts or events arising after
         the effective date of this Registration Statement (or the most recent
         post-effective amendment thereof) which, individually or in the
         aggregate, represent a fundamental change in the information set forth
         in the Registration Statement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any
         increase or decrease in volume of securities offered (if the total
         dollar value of securities offered would not exceed that which was
         registered) and any deviation from the low or high end of the estimated
         maximum offering range may be reflected in the form of prospectus filed
         with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "Commission") pursuant
         to Rule 424(b) if, in the aggregate, the changes in volume and price
         represent no more than a 20% change in the maximum aggregate offering
         price set forth in the "Calculation of Registration Fee" table in the
         effective registration statement;

             (c) To include any material information with respect to the plan of
         distribution not previously disclosed in the Registration Statement or
         any material change to such information in the Registration Statement;

provided, however, that paragraphs (1)(a) and (1)(b) shall not apply if the
registration statement is on Form S-3 or Form S-8 and the information required
to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in
periodic reports filed with or furnished to the Commission by the registrant
pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act that are
incorporated by reference in this Registration Statement.

     (2) That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities
Act, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new registration
statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such
securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering
thereof.

     (3) To remove from registration by means of a post-effective amendment any
of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the termination of the
offering.

     The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of
determining any liability under the Securities Act, each filing of the
Registrant's annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the
Exchange Act (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan's
annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act) that is
incorporated by reference in this Registration Statement shall be deemed to be a
new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the
offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona
fide offering thereof.

     Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act
may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the
Registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the Registrant

                                       3

 
has been advised that in the opinion of the Commission such indemnification is
against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is, therefore,
unenforceable.  In the event that a claim for indemnification against such
liabilities (other than the payment by the Registrant of expenses incurred or
paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the Registrant in the
successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such
director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being
registered, the Registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter
has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate
jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public
policy as expressed in the Securities Act and will be governed by the final
adjudication of such issue.

                                       4

 
                                   SIGNATURES

     Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act, the Registrant
certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the
requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this Registration
Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly
authorized, in the City of Thousand Oaks, State of California, on this 17th day
of March, 1999.

                                 AMGEN INC.



                                 By:    /s/ Kathryn E. Falberg
                                    -----------------------------------------
                                    Kathryn E. Falberg
                                    Senior Vice President, Finance, and Chief
                                    Financial Officer

                               POWER OF ATTORNEY

     We, the undersigned officers and directors of Amgen Inc., and each of us,
do hereby constitute and appoint each and any of Gordon M. Binder, Kevin W.
Sharer, Kathryn E. Falberg and George A. Vandeman, our true and lawful attorney
and agent, with full power of substitution and resubstitution, to do any and all
acts and things in our name and behalf in any and all capacities and to execute
any and all instruments for us in our names, in connection with this
Registration Statement or any registration statement for the same offering that
is to be effective upon filing pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act
of 1933, and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto and other documents in
connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including
specifically, but without limitation, power and authority to sign for us or any
of us in our names in the capacities indicated below, any and all amendments
(including post-effective amendments) hereto; and we hereby ratify and confirm
all that said attorney and agent, or his substitute, shall do or cause to be
done by virtue thereof.

     Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this
Registration Statement has been signed below by the following persons in the
capacities and on the dates indicated:

 
 
            Signatures                                   Title                            Date
            ----------                                   -----                            ----
                                                                              
/s/ Gordon M. Binder                            Chairman of the Board and           March 17, 1999
- -------------------------------------           Chief Executive Officer
Gordon M. Binder                                Principal Executive Officer)
 
/s/ Kevin W. Sharer                             President, Chief Operating          March 17, 1999
- -------------------------------------           Officer and Director
Kevin W. Sharer

/s/ Kathryn E. Falberg                          Senior Vice President,              March 17, 1999
- -------------------------------------           Finance, and Chief Financial
Kathryn E. Falberg                              Officer
                                                (Principal Financial Officer)

/s/ Marc M.P. de Garidel                        Vice President, Controller and      March 17, 1999
- -------------------------------------           Chief Accounting Officer
Marc M.P. de Garidel                            (Principal Accounting Officer)


/s/ William K. Bowes, Jr.                       Director                            March 17, 1999
- -------------------------------------
William K. Bowes, Jr.
 
                                                5

 
 
  
            Signatures                                   Title                            Date
            ----------                                   -----                            ----
                                                                               
/s/ Jerry D. Choate                             Director                              March 17, 1999
- --------------------------------------
Jerry D. Choate


/s/ Frederick W. Gluck                          Director                              March 17, 1999
- --------------------------------------                                              
Frederick W. Gluck                                                                  
                                                                                    
                                                                                    
/s/ Franklin P. Johnson, Jr.                    Director                              March 17, 1999
- --------------------------------------                                              
Franklin P. Johnson, Jr.                                                            
                                                                                    
                                                                                    
/s/ Steven Lazarus                              Director                              March 17, 1999
- --------------------------------------                                              
Steven Lazarus                                                                      
                                                                                    
                                                                                    
/s/ Gilbert S. Omenn                            Director                              March 17, 1999
- --------------------------------------                                              
Gilbert S. Omenn                                                                    
                                                                                    
                                                                                    
/s/ Judith C. Pelham                            Director                              March 17, 1999
- --------------------------------------
Judith C. Pelham
 
                                                   6

 
                                 EXHIBIT INDEX



                                                                                             
Exhibit                                                                                        
 Number                                        Description                                       
- -------                                        -----------
                                                                                            
 *4.1             Amgen Limited Sharesave Plan                                                    

 *5.1             Opinion of Latham & Watkins regarding the legality of the shares
                  being registered

*23.1             Consent of Ernst & Young LLP

*23.2             Consent of Latham & Watkins (included in opinion filed as
                  Exhibit 5.1)

*24               Power of Attorney (included on signature page to Registration
                  Statement)

_________________
 *Filed herewith.

                                       7