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

Amgen‘s
stock
rose
more
than
12%
on
Friday
after

the
drugmaker
teased
positive
initial
data
on
its
experimental
weight
loss
injection.

That
fueled
investor
concerns
about
new
competition
in
the
rapidly
growing
weight
loss
drug
industry,
sending
shares
of
the
current
obesity
players,

Novo
Nordisk
and

Eli
Lilly,
lower
on
Friday.
Eli
Lilly
shares
dropped
nearly
3%,
while
Novo
Nordisk’s
U.S.-traded
shares
fell
more
than
1%.

Novo
Nordisk’s
stock
was
already
under
pressure
on
Thursday
after
sales
of
its
blockbuster
weight
loss
injection
Wegovy
missed
analysts’
estimates
for
the
first
quarter
due
to
lower
pricing.

During
a
first-quarter
earnings
call
Thursday,
Amgen’s
CEO
Bob
Bradway
said
he
was “very
encouraged”
by
early
results
from
a
mid-stage
study
on
the
company’s
obesity
injection,
MariTide.
Investors
have
been
laser-focused
on
that
drug
and
the
rest
of
Amgen’s
weight
loss
drug
pipeline
as
it
races
several
other
drugmakers
to
join
the
booming
market.

“We
are
confident
in
MariTide’s
differentiated
profile
and
believe
it
will
address
important
unmet
medical
needs,”
Bradway
said
during
the
call.

Amgen
did
not
provide
specific
data,
but
its
Chief
Scientific
Officer
Jay
Bradner
said
that
patient
dropout
has
not
been
an
issue.
He
said
Amgen
is
on
track
to
release
initial
data
from
the
study
in
late
2024
and
is
also
planning
late-stage
studies
in
patients
with
obesity,
obesity-related
conditions
and
diabetes.

Bradway
also
highlighted
the
potential
competitive
advantages
of
the
injection,
which
patients
will
take
using
a
hand-held
autoinjector
once
a
month
or
even
less
frequently.
That
could
offer
far
more
convenience
than
the
weekly
injections
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
said
in
a
research
note
on
Friday,
adding
that
the
firm
is
upgrading
its
rating
on
Amgen
shares
to “outperform.”

Notably,
Amgen
said
it
was
scrapping
its
experimental
oral
obesity
drug.
But
that
development
was
not
as
important
as
the
MariTide
update,
Jefferies
analyst
Michael
Yee
said
in
a
research
note
Thursday.

Amgen’s
Bradway
said
the
company
has
started
expanding
manufacturing
for
MariTide.
That’s
a
signal
that
the
company
is
preparing
to
produce
enough
supply
of
the
drug
—
a
major
issue
that
Novo
Nordisk
and
Eli
Lilly
have
grappled
with
over
the
past
year
and
a
half.

Still,
investors
were
pleased
with
Eli
Lilly
on
Tuesday
after
the
company
assured
them
that
it
could
overcome
ongoing
supply
constraints
for
its
popular
drugs.
Eli
Lilly
hiked
its
full-year
guidance
in
part
due
to
optimism
around
increased
production
of
Zepbound,
its
diabetes
injection
Mounjaro
and
similar
drugs
for
the
rest
of
the
year.

Eli
Lilly
has
several
manufacturing
sites
either “ramping
up
or
under
construction,”
including
two
locations
in
North
Carolina,
two
in
Indiana,
one
in
Ireland,
and
one
in
Germany,
along
with
a
seventh
recently
acquired
site,
executives
said
during
an
earnings
call.

Meanwhile,
investors
were
less
impressed
with
Novo
Nordisk
on
Thursday.

Sales
of
Wegovy
during
the
first
quarter
nearly
doubled
but
came
in
under
analysts’
expectations.
That
signals
that
Novo
Nordisk
is
struggling
to
meet
demand
for
the
treatment.

But
Novo
Nordisk
also
pointed
to
fierce
competition
from
Eli
Lilly’s
Zepbound,
which
has
shaken
up
pricing
dynamics
for
Wegovy
in
the
U.S.

“Net
pricing”
for
both
Wegovy
and
Ozempic
will
be
lower
in
the
U.S.
throughout
the
year
due
to
the “increasing
volume
and
competition,”
Chief
Financial
Officer
Karsten
Munk
Knudsen
said
on
a
first-quarter
earnings
call
on
Thursday.