AMGN, AZN, and VKTX Join the Gold Rush of Weight Loss Drug
The weight loss drug market has been dominated by $Eli Lilly(LLY)$ and $Novo-Nordisk A/S(NVO)$ , but there's a new "gold rush" coming! And $Amgen(AMGN)$ $AstraZeneca PLC(AZN)$ $Viking Therapeutics(VKTX)$ are all jumping in with their own contenders.
Let's take a look at these three potential "new stars" in the field:
1. $Amgen(AMGN)$
Amgen's MariTide is showing some serious promise. While other drugs like Zepbound and Wegovy took a year to achieve a 21% weight loss, MariTide managed to slash off 14.5% in just three months! And they're already gearing up for phase 3 trials.
At the same time, Amgen is a well-rounded big player with plenty of other drugs in the pipeline too.
2. $AstraZeneca PLC(AZN)$
AstraZeneca has three obesity drugs in phase 1 trials, and they're putting a lot of focus on weight loss and cardiometabolic therapies. They even teamed up with SixPeaks Bio, whose dual-specificity antibody therapy could minimize muscle loss. But hey, that's still in preclinical testing.
3. $Viking Therapeutics(VKTX)$
Viking Therapeutics' VK2735 just completed phase 2 trials with some incredible results. Patients lost 14.7% of their weight in just 13 weeks, compared to the placebo group's 1.6%! That's almost on par with MariTide and could give Wegovy and Zepbound a run for their money.
Plus, VK2735's pill form is also showing promising results, though we'll need more phase 2 data to confirm. But Viking's got a lot more risk than the other two. They've got a whopping $963 million in cash and equivalents, but they ain't making any money yet.
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