Amgen soars on weight reduction drug progress, Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly slide

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

That fueled investor considerations about new competitors within the quickly rising weight reduction drug trade, sending shares of the present weight problems gamers, Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, decrease on Friday. Eli Lilly shares dropped almost 3%, whereas Novo Nordisk’s U.S.-traded shares fell greater than 1%.

Novo Nordisk’s inventory was already below strain on Thursday after gross sales of its blockbuster weight reduction injection Wegovy missed analysts’ estimates for the primary quarter because of decrease pricing. 

Throughout a first-quarter earnings name Thursday, Amgen’s CEO Bob Bradway mentioned he was “very inspired” by early outcomes from a mid-stage examine on the corporate’s weight problems injection, MariTide. Buyers have been laser-focused on that drug and the remainder of Amgen’s weight reduction drug pipeline because it races a number of different drugmakers to hitch the booming market. 

“We’re assured in MariTide’s differentiated profile and consider it’ll tackle necessary unmet medical wants,” Bradway mentioned through the name. 

Amgen didn’t present particular information, however its Chief Scientific Officer Jay Bradner mentioned that affected person dropout has not been a difficulty. He mentioned Amgen is on observe to launch preliminary information from the examine in late 2024 and can also be planning late-stage research in sufferers with weight problems, obesity-related circumstances and diabetes. 

Bradway additionally highlighted the potential aggressive benefits of the injection, which sufferers will take utilizing a hand-held autoinjector as soon as a month and even much less steadily. That might provide much more comfort than the weekly injections available on the market, Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound. 

“Whereas there was vital debate on the potential efficacy and security of MariTide because the preliminary disclosures of the Section I information in 2022, we’ve grown extra assured within the potential for the remedy to meaningfully differentiate from different therapies in growth, notably in regard to therapy intervals,” William Blair analyst Matt Phipps mentioned in a analysis word on Friday, including that the agency is upgrading its score on Amgen shares to “outperform.” 

Notably, Amgen mentioned it was scrapping its experimental oral weight problems drug. However that growth was not as necessary because the MariTide replace, Jefferies analyst Michael Yee mentioned in a analysis word Thursday. 

Amgen’s Bradway mentioned the corporate has began increasing manufacturing for MariTide. That is a sign that the corporate is getting ready to provide sufficient provide of the drug — a serious situation that Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have grappled with over the previous yr and a half. 

Nonetheless, buyers had been happy with Eli Lilly on Tuesday after the corporate assured them that it may overcome ongoing provide constraints for its well-liked medication. Eli Lilly hiked its full-year steerage partially because of optimism round elevated manufacturing of Zepbound, its diabetes injection Mounjaro and related medication for the remainder of the yr.

Eli Lilly has a number of manufacturing websites both “ramping up or below development,” together with two areas in North Carolina, two in Indiana, one in Eire, and one in Germany, together with a seventh just lately acquired web site, executives mentioned throughout an earnings name. 

In the meantime, buyers had been much less impressed with Novo Nordisk on Thursday. 

Gross sales of Wegovy through the first quarter almost doubled however got here in below analysts’ expectations. That indicators that Novo Nordisk is struggling to satisfy demand for the therapy. 

However Novo Nordisk additionally pointed to fierce competitors from Eli Lilly’s Zepbound, which has shaken up pricing dynamics for Wegovy within the U.S. 

“Web pricing” for each Wegovy and Ozempic shall be decrease within the U.S. all year long as a result of “rising quantity and competitors,” Chief Monetary Officer Karsten Munk Knudsen mentioned on a first-quarter earnings name on Thursday.