ImjanIts stock jumped more than 12 percent on Friday after the drugmaker teased positive early data on its experimental weight-loss injection.
That fueled investor concerns about new competition in the fast-growing weight-loss drug industry, sending shares of existing obesity players, Novo Nordisk And Eli LillyLow on Friday. Shares of Eli Lilly fell about 3 percent, while U.S.-traded shares of Novo Nordisk fell more than 1 percent.
Novo Nordisk’s stock was already under pressure on Thursday after sales of its blockbuster weight-loss injection Vigovi missed analysts’ estimates for the first quarter due to lower prices.
During a first-quarter earnings call Thursday, Amgen CEO Bob Bradway said he was “very encouraged” by preliminary results from a mid-stage study of the company’s obesity injection Maritide. Investors have been laser-focused on the drug and the rest of Amgen’s pipeline of weight-loss drugs as it races to join many other drugmakers in the fast-growing market.
“We believe in MaryTide’s differentiated profile and believe it will address significant unmet medical needs,” Bradway said during the call.
Amgen did not provide specific data, but Jay Bradner, its chief scientific officer, said there was no problem with patient dropouts. Amgen is on track to release preliminary data from the study in late 2024 and is also planning late-stage studies in patients with obesity, obesity-related conditions and diabetes, he said.
Bradway also highlighted the potential competitive advantages of the injection, which patients would receive once a month or less often using a hand-held auto-injector. It may offer more convenience than weekly injections in the market, Novo Nordisk’s Vigovi and Eli Lilly’s Zipbound.
“While there has been significant debate over the potential efficacy and safety of MaryTide since the initial disclosure of Phase I data in 2022, we have become more confident that the therapy is meaningfully different from other treatments in development. ability to do, particularly in relation to treatment intervals,” William Blair analyst Matt Phipps said in a research note on Friday, adding that the firm raised its rating on Amgen shares to “Outperform. “Upgrading for Performance”.
Specifically, Amgen said it was discontinuing its experimental oral obesity drug. But the development was not as significant as the tide update, Jefferies analyst Michael Yee said in a research note on Thursday.
Amgen’s Bradway said the company has begun ramping up manufacturing for MariTide. That’s a sign that the company is preparing to build up a large supply of the drug — a major problem that Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have grappled with over the past year and a half.
Still, investors were cheered by Eli Lilly on Tuesday after the company assured them it could overcome ongoing supply bottlenecks for its popular drug. Eli Lilly raised its full-year guidance due to increased production of Zipbound, its diabetes injection Monjaro and expectations for similar drugs for the rest of the year.
Eli Lilly has several manufacturing sites either “ramped up or under construction,” including two locations in North Carolina, two in Indiana, one in Ireland, and one in Germany, with a seventh site recently acquired, executives said. said during an earnings call.
Meanwhile, investors were less impressed with Novo Nordisk on Thursday.
Vegovi’s sales nearly doubled during the first quarter but fell short of analysts’ expectations. This indicates that Novo Nordisk is struggling to meet demand for the treatment.
But Novo Nordisk also pointed to stiff competition from Eli Lilly’s Zipbound, which has shaken up the pricing dynamics for Vegovy in the US.
Chief Financial Officer Karsten Munk Knudsen said on Thursday’s first-quarter earnings call that “net pricing” for both Vigovi and Ozempic in the U.S. will remain low for the year due to “increasing volume and competition.”
Credit : www.cnbc.com
