Yahoo FinanceNovo Slides as Amgen Fuels Obesity Drug Competition Fears
(Bloomberg) -- Novo Nordisk A/S shares fell as a US rival’s comments on an experimental obesity drug gave rise to concerns about potential new competition in the rapidly growing field.
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The stock slid as much as 5.3% after Amgen Inc.’s chief executive officer said he was “very encouraged” by early results from a study of MariTide. That followed Thursday’s 2.7% drop after Denmark’s Novo reported sales of its Wegovy weight-loss drug that missed analysts’ elevated estimates.
Optimism over soaring sales of the Wegovy and Ozempic drugs have seen Novo’s market capitalization surpass $500 billion this year, reinforcing its position as Europe’s most valuable listed company. The stock has more than quadrupled since the start of 2020.
Amgen shares jumped 14% in premarket trading on Friday following the comments from CEO Robert Bradway on a post-earnings conference call.
Eli Lilly & Co., maker of the popular obesity drug Zepbound, fell 2.4% in trading before US markets opened.
Read: Amgen Soars After CEO Gives Update on Experimental Obesity Drug
The success of weight-loss drugs has sparked something of an industry gold rush, with the class of treatments, known as GLP-1s, expected to become one of the world’s biggest-ever blockbusters.
A number of pharma companies are looking to try to enter the field given the huge demand. Last year AstraZeneca Plc said a weight-loss pill it’s developing with China’s Eccogene could cost less than shots made by rivals such as Novo and Eli Lilly.
Another Danish company, Zealand Pharma, saw a record jump in its stock in February after the company’s partner, Boehringer Ingelheim, published positive trial results on another weight-loss drug candidate, Survodutide.
Barclays Plc analyst Emily Field said it’s too early to judge the competitive threat to Novo or Eli Lilly.
“As of today, we see no cause for concern regarding the competitive dynamics versus the market leaders,” Field wrote in a note. “We really will need to see the data.”
--With assistance from Deirdre Hipwell.
(Updates with Eli Lilly pre-market trading)
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