Wall Street will have a fresh opportunity later this month to gauge the potential for Amgen's experimental weight-loss drug, MariTide.
The biotech will host a symposium on June 23 at the American Diabetes Association annual meeting in Chicago. Amgen plans to present additional results from its Phase 2 test and pharmacokinetics data from first-phase testing. Pharmacokinetics is the study of how the body handles a drug from the time it is administered to the time it's eliminated.
Leerink Partners analyst David Risinger says Amgen will also present additional information about the device it will use to administer MariTide. Amgen is testing MariTide as a monthly shot, but has said it could potentially be given even less frequently.
Amgen stock hit a recent low in mid-May. But shares have since climbed roughly 11%, as of Friday's close.
Tolerability, Effectiveness Of MariTide
The pharmacokinetics data will be of particular interest as investors work through the implications of titrating — or not — doses of MariTide. Titrating is slowly increasing a drug's dosage to manage side effects more effectively.
Escalating MariTide doses works without compromising the drug's effectiveness, Amgen said in a Nov. 26 call with analysts. The company also said titrating up MariTide doses reduced rates of nausea to under 50% and vomiting to under 20% at day 43 of testing.
"Investors have been interested in seeing detailed data, including tolerability when dose escalation was not employed and (effectiveness) when dose escalation was employed," Risinger said.
He kept his market perform rating on Amgen stock.
Competition With Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk
Amgen is facing off with steep competition for MariTide. Over the course of a year, patients received a "monthly or less frequent dose" of the drug and lost up to 20% of their body weight. The lines closely up with Eli Lilly's Zepbound.
Amgen stock fell 5% on Nov. 26, the day it unveiled topline results from the Phase 2 MariTide study.
RBC Capital Markets analyst Gregory Renza notes there's a possibility MariTide could lead to greater weight loss over time. There was no plateau in weight loss after 52 weeks of treatment with MariTide.
"When coupled with convenient dosing (MariTide) may offer optionality in a large market (which mgmt sees may fragment," Renza said in a report. "We see ADA as an opportunity to gauge the medical community's receptivity to MariTide's (effectiveness) and tolerability profiles."
Renza rates Amgen stock an outperform with a 320 price target.
It's important to note, Leerink's Risinger said, there was a higher level of side effects among MariTide recipients compared to Zepbound recipients. Zepbound and Wegovy, the latter is from Novo Nordisk, are weekly shots.
Across the drug class, the most common side effects are gastrointestinal in nature.
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