Amgen abandons experimental weight loss pill, moves ahead with injection

Amgen On Thursday, it announced it would stop developing its experimental weight-loss pill and instead move forward with its injectable drug and other products under development for obesity.

The announcement is a setback for Amgen, which is among several drugmakers rushing to join the hot weight-loss drug business dominated by Novo Nordisk And Elie Lilly, which some analysts say could be worth $100 billion by the end of the decade. But the company has other opportunities to capture market share.

“Given the profile we have seen with (the oral drug), we will not pursue further development. Instead, in the obesity space, we are differentially investing in MariTide and a number of “preclinical assets,” said Jay Bradner, Amgen’s chief scientific officer. said during an earnings call Thursday.

Amgen is developing an injectable obesity treatment called MariTide, which is an ongoing interim trial in non-diabetic obese or overweight adults. The company will release initial data from that study later this year and said it is working with regulators to plan a late-stage trial. Amgen is also planning a second-stage trial of the drug in the treatment of diabetes.

Amgen also has other drugs in development for weight management.

The drugmaker’s oral medication, called AMG-786, is the second diet pill to be discontinued in the past year.

Pfizer discontinued a twice-daily version of its obesity drug, danuglipron, in December after patients had difficulty tolerating the drug in a mid-stage trial. The company is currently developing a once-daily version of this drug.

Investors are focusing on Amgen’s pipeline of experimental weight loss treatments. Amgen hopes to stand out among the large group of potential players with a different approach.

The company’s experimental injection helps people lose weight differently than existing injectable drugs. Much like Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound, part of Amgen’s treatment activates a gut hormone receptor called GLP-1 to help regulate a person’s appetite.

But while Zepbound activates a second hormone receptor called GIP, Amgen’s drug blocks it. Wegovy doesn’t target GIP, which suppresses appetite like GLP-1, but may also improve how the body breaks down sugar and fat.

Amgen’s injectable treatment also appears to help patients maintain their weight after they stop taking it, according to some clinical trial data. The drugmaker is also testing its drug to be taken once a month or even less frequently, which could be more convenient than the weekly medications available on the market.

Patients who received the highest dose of Amgen’s MariTide — 420 milligrams — lost an average of 14.5% of their body weight each month in just 12 weeks, according to phase one trial data released in February in the journal Nature Metabolism.

Also Thursday, Amgen reported first-quarter revenue and adjusted profit that beat Wall Street expectations, driven in part by products from recently acquired Horizon Therapeutics.

Here’s what Amgen reported for the first quarter compared to what Wall Street expected, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

• Earnings per share: $3.96 versus $3.87 expected
• Income: $7.45 billion versus $7.44 billion expected

Amgen reported a net loss of $113 million, or 21 cents per share. That compares to net income of $2.84 billion, or $5.28 per share, for the year-ago period.

Excluding certain items, the company reported earnings of $3.96 per share.

Amgen reported first-quarter revenue of $7.45 billion, up 22% from the same period last year.

This includes $914 million from Horizon Therapeutics products, including thyroid eye disease treatment Tepezza.

Excluding Horizon Therapeutics’ drugs, Amgen said its product sales increased 6% from the year-ago period. Ten products recorded double-digit volume growth in the first quarter, including cardiovascular drug Repatha, severe asthma treatment Tezspire and Blincyto, a treatment for a certain blood cancer.

Amgen also slightly reduced its full-year forecast on Thursday.

The company forecasts revenue of $32.5 billion to $33.8 billion for 2024. This compares to previous forecasts of $32.4 billion to $33.8 billion.

Amgen expects full-year adjusted earnings of between $19 and $20.20 per share. This compares to a previous forecast of $18.90 to $20.30 per share.

Analysts surveyed by LSEG expect annual revenue of $32.95 billion and adjusted earnings of $19.48 per share.