Amgen stock soars on weight loss injection progress as Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly shares slide

Amgen‘s store rose greater than 12% on Friday next the drugmaker teased positive initial data on its experimental weight reduction injection. 

That fueled investor issues about fresh pageant within the unexpectedly rising weight reduction drug business, sending stocks of the wave weight problems gamers, Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, decrease on Friday. Eli Lilly stocks dropped just about 3%, presen Novo Nordisk’s U.S.-traded stocks fell greater than 1%.

Novo Nordisk’s store was once already beneath force on Thursday next gross sales of its blockbuster weight reduction injection Wegovy ignored analysts’ estimates for the primary quarter because of decrease pricing. 

Right through a first-quarter income name Thursday, Amgen’s CEO Bob Bradway stated he was once “very encouraged” through early effects from a mid-stage learn about at the corporate’s weight problems injection, MariTide. Traders were laser-focused on that drug and the residue of Amgen’s weight reduction drug pipeline because it races a number of alternative drugmakers to fix the booming marketplace. 

“We are confident in MariTide’s differentiated profile and believe it will address important unmet medical needs,” Bradway stated right through the decision. 

Amgen didn’t lend particular information, however its Eminent Clinical Officer Jay Bradner stated that affected person dropout has now not been a topic. He stated Amgen is on the right track to leave preliminary information from the learn about in past due 2024 and could also be making plans late-stage research in sufferers with weight problems, obesity-related situations and diabetes. 

Bradway additionally highlighted the possible aggressive benefits of the injection, which sufferers will pluck the use of a hand held autoinjector as soon as a week and even much less often. That might deal way more comfort than the weekly injections available on the market, Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound. 

“While there has been significant debate on the potential efficacy and safety of MariTide since the initial disclosures of the Phase I data in 2022, we have grown more confident in the potential for the therapy to meaningfully differentiate from other therapies in development, particularly in regard to treatment intervals,” William Blair analyst Matt Phipps stated in a analysis notice on Friday, including that the company is upgrading its ranking on Amgen stocks to “outperform.” 

Significantly, Amgen stated it was once scrapping its experimental oral weight problems drug. However that construction was once now not as impressive because the MariTide replace, Jefferies analyst Michael Yee stated in a analysis notice Thursday. 

Amgen’s Bradway stated the corporate has began increasing production for MariTide. That’s a sign that the corporate is making ready to assemble plethora provide of the drug — a big factor that Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have grappled with over the date yr and a part. 

Nonetheless, traders had been proud of Eli Lilly on Tuesday next the corporate confident them that it would triumph over ongoing provide constraints for its pervasive medication. Eli Lilly hiked its full-year steering partly because of optimism round greater manufacturing of Zepbound, its diabetes injection Mounjaro and indistinguishable medication for the residue of the yr.

Eli Lilly has a number of production websites both “ramping up or under construction,” together with two places in North Carolina, two in Indiana, one in Eire, and one in Germany, in conjunction with a 7th lately got web site, executives stated right through an income name. 

In the meantime, traders had been much less inspired with Novo Nordisk on Thursday. 

Gross sales of Wegovy right through the primary quarter just about doubled however got here in beneath analysts’ expectancies. That alerts that Novo Nordisk is suffering to satisfy call for for the remedy. 

However Novo Nordisk additionally pointed to fierce pageant from Eli Lilly’s Zepbound, which has shaken up pricing dynamics for Wegovy in the us 

“Net pricing” for each Wegovy and Ozempic can be decrease within the U.S. all through the yr because of the “increasing volume and competition,” Eminent Monetary Officer Karsten Munk Knudsen stated on a first-quarter income name on Thursday.