Amgen says its Ozempic competitor helped patients lose 20% of their weight. Wall Street isn't impressed
Amgen (AMGN) reported today the highly anticipated results of a mid-stage trial of its experimental weight loss drug and potential Ozempic competitor MariTide, however, Wall Street wasn’t very impressed.
The pharma giant said its weight loss medication helped patients living with obesity or who are overweight lose an average of 20% of their weight in a 52-week trial. For comparison, a clinical trial of Novo Nordisk’s (NVO) blockbuster weight loss drug Wegovy found that participants lost an average of 15% of theirweight after 68 weeks on the drug.
Despite potentially being more potent than current drugs on the market, Amgen stock fell over 10% following the news during intraday trading on Tuesday.
MariTide belongs to the class of drugs known as GLP-1 medications, made popular by Novo Nordisk’s diabetes treatment Ozempic. These drugs mimic a hormone that regulates appetite and blood sugar and have become highly sought after as treatments for obesity and Type 2 diabetes. Popular brands on the market include Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s (LLY) Zepbound.
Morgan Stanley (MS) analysts anticipate the global market for GLP-1 treatment will reach $105 billion by 2030, but that will hinge on patient access. With that much money at stake, pharmaceutical companies including Pfizer (PFE), Viking Therapeutics (VKTX), and Zealand Pharma, are all racing to enter the lucrative weight-loss drug market.
“We are very excited by MariTide’s differentiated profile, with clinically meaningful attributes of substantial and progressive weight loss, monthly or less frequent dosing, significant improvements in cardiometabolic parameters and strong reduction of HbA1C,” said Amgen Chief Scientific Officer James E. Bradner in a press release.
Bradner previously told investors that MariTide is expected to be sold in a “convenient, handheld, patient-friendly auto-injector device with a monthly or even less frequent single-injection administration.” This is opposed to the weekly injections required for weight-loss drugs currently on the market.
The company is already planning a larger phase 3 trial for the drug.
Still, the trial’s results came in at the lower end of Wall Street’s expectations.
“Weight loss of 20% meets the bar, but there is a catch,” wrote Wells Fargo Securities (WFC) analyst Mohit Bansal in a note this morning. “Investors were looking for a minimum 20% weight loss at the highest dose since Zepbound crosses this bar and also newer injectable treatments such as Cagrisema and Retatrutide are expected to be at 25% or higher weight loss.”
Jefferies (JEF) analyst Michael Yee wrote today in a note the the market overreacted and expects Amgen stock to rebound — even if not immediately — once Wall Street digests the results. Yee added, that the data suggests that the MariTide could lead to more weight loss beyond 52 weeks and that less frequent dosing, whether monthly or quarterly, could make it a competitive option.
Similarity, Goldman Sachs (GS) analyst Salveen Richter wrote that he continues to see “a highly differentiated asset and remain[s] confident in the outlook for MariTide” as it advances to a late-stage trial.
